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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Nicole Robinson

Chief Executive Officer | YWCA Metropolitan Chicago

Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, Nicole R. Robinson has spent her career building bridges between communities, individuals, government, and business leaders. Today, Nicole serves as the Chief Executive Officer for YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, a social impact organization dedicated to eliminating racism and empowering women. Inspired by this mission and the resilience of the families who turn to the YWCA, Nicole is committed to building community resilience to heal from violence; unleashing youth potential and ensuring communities have economic equity needed to thrive. It’s a privilege for Nicole to serve as steward of the mission, vision, strategy, operational and financial leadership of a $40MM, 300 team member human services enterprise, with 12 sites across Cook County, DuPage County and Lake County.

Since joining YWCA Metropolitan Chicago as CEO in 2022, Nicole has been focused on building both community and organizational resilience as a foundation for continued growth as we support families in their transition from an equitable recovery to an equitable future. Most noteworthy, she secured the YWCA of Metro Chicago as the official community partner for the historic $31MM cash assistance program, drove finance restructuring and broke revenue records for their annal luncheon. As a resident of the Bronzeville community, she loves Chicago and wants it to be better. She has been featured in Crain’s Business Chicago amongst the list of Notable Black
Leaders and Executives, serves on the boards of Court Theatre and Erikson Institute as well as being a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.

Nicole Robinson is a session presenter for the Design as Activism Symposium.