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.

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.

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Past Event

IDeal: Hacking Healthy Soil

March 7, 2017
8:30am-12:00pm CST
565 West Adams Street, 7th floor
Chicago
IL 60661,

The City of Chicago doesn’t have a public facility to treat and manage organic waste, therefore, any organic material we do not use is transferred to landfills. Since the last active landfill of Cook County closed in 2016, our city has been exporting its trash—including organic waste—to neighbors’ landfills. If individuals and organizations want to support sustainable systems, they either have to partner with one of the six private organizations that are committed to face the challenge or solve the problem on their own.

IDeal, a student-led design swarm for local companies engaged in community improvement who seek to leverage their offerings, will take on this challenge in partnership with Healthy Soil Compost. This hyper local startup is creating meaningful impact in Chicago by collecting organic waste using a hybrid system of bike and car pickups. Participants will join teams to design tangible solutions based on Healthy Soil's current struggles. Each team will use design methodologies to tackle a specific task with the goal of creating meaningful outcomes based on sustainable principles.

We welcome participants from all disciplines to add their voice and talent to solving these challenges.


IDeal was created in partnership with students running BarnRaise Chicago and sustainID.



Register