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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institute
of desiGn

KO

By Sai Allena

May 11, 2023

An all-in-one solution sleep mask

Using the elements of sight, sound, support, and sensation, the KO sleepmask allows people to gain a serene rest no matter where they are, be it while traveling, or in the middle of a crowded workspace. The mask is designed to combat the ongoing sleep epidemic that persists in modern work culture. The product was prototyped functionally and physically using a variety of materials and tested on multiple individuals for fit and feel.