In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design was folded into Illinois Tech's School of Design & Society.
This website is an archive of the impactful and inspirational work produced by the ID community before that transition.

László Moholy-Nagy opened the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937, treating design as a discipline that was teachable, testable, and consequential. Nine decades on, its scope had widened from the things people use to the systems they depend on: hospitals, government agencies, classrooms, supply chains, digital platforms. Along the way, ID community members developed the published research, methods, and frameworks that designers rely on every day.

Chief among them is human-centered design: close attention to how people actually live, and advocacy for what that research reveals. It shaped designers who are comfortable with complexity and ambiguity: curious, rigorous, inclusive, and stubbornly optimistic about design's ability to change the systems that shape our lives.

To every one of them, who taught, studied, built, critiqued, and stayed late in the studio: thank you, and keep designing.

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ID-Designed Zenblen Smoothie Kiosks Expand Across Chicago

New Zenblen Machine Installed at the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library

May 19, 2025

Zenblen kiosk is a wide hallway

When ID students first collaborated with Zenblen in 2019, they set out to design a user-centered smoothie machine that provided not only nutritious drinks but also a welcoming and intuitive experience. That vision is now expanding across Chicago.

Zenblen recently installed a new machine at the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library. This machine—like all Zenblen kiosks—builds on the initial prototype developed in Marty Thaler’s product design workshop.

As Zenblen grows, the company maintains its connection to ID, engaging Marty as an advisor and hiring many UX interns from ID over the years.

“
Working with Zenblen has been an extraordinary experience on so many levels—from the friends I've made to my appreciation of the machine's complexity and seeing all the improvements and refinements of the product and user interface.
—Marty Thaler, Associate Professor of Product and Environment Design & Studio and Fabrication Director

Production space with two men in the foreground and a Zenblen machine displayed

Dan Bernacki, Zenblen Director of Engineering, with Marty Thaler in Zenblen's production space at NuWay Industries, Chicago

The partnership between Zenblen and ID was made possible through mHUB, a startup incubator focused on product innovation. Since 2017, Marty and his students have provided design services to some of mHub’s most promising ventures.

This spring, the Zenblen kiosk was showcased at the mHUB Hardtech Summit, which explores advancements in smart manufacturing, sustainability, and other innovations in physical products. At the Summit, Zenblen announced a new manufacturing partnership with Nu-Way Industries, which is helping to build kiosks right here in Chicago.

In addition to the University of Chicago, Zenblen kiosks are available at several locations around Chicago, including Northwestern University, DePaul University, Rush University, and the MHub Innovation Center.

As the machines reach more users across the city, they offer a seamless blend of physical and digital design shaped by ID’s user-centered approach.

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