In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design came under new management. 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.

institute
of desiGn
Search
Past Event

ID in Tokyo: Meet the Institute of Design

March 26, 2024
2:30-9:00pm CST
Musashino Art University, Ichigaya Campus
1 Chome-4 Ichigayatamachi
Shinjuku City, Tokyo 162-0843

What’s creative leadership? How do we innovate in complex spaces like food systems? Learn more about ID and its Action Labs.

Anijo Mathew, Dean of the Institute of Design (ID) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), talks about the need for a new kind of leadership—creative leadership—and ID’s role in preparing future creative leaders as well as building new frameworks and methods for complex spaces of innovation. Associate Professor Maura Shea will introduce ID’s Food Systems Action Lab, which activates ways for communities to rebuild our food systems more equitably and effectively. Her talk is entitled Designing Equity & Sustainability: Using Systems Design to Prevent Food Waste.

This public event (Event A) will be hosted at Musashino Art University (MAU), followed by a private ID alumni meeting and dinner with ID faculty (Event B). Please note that there are ticket types available for each event.

ID alumni are invited to join Anijo and Maura during their visit to Japan to discuss ID, the future of design, and how ID can build stronger relationships in Japan.

Register