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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Our Work

Areas
Image of Steelcase Ocular View from Anurag Duddu

AskChuck: Making Design Methodology Accessible Through AI

Knolia.ai: From Passive Video to Interactive Knowledge

View of Wheelchair Guide Overview for Lurie Children's Hospital

Pediatric Wheelchair Guidance Supports Caregivers

Expanding and Sustaining the CAPABLE Aging in Place Program

EHL AutoDX Project

AutoDX: Optimizing an Automated Documentation Tool to Fit Provider Workflow

Three wearable bracelet devices

Novan: Reimagining Emotional Wellbeing

Teacher calling on a grade school student

Transforming Educational Decision-Making

African American male youth seated in lab situation with gloves, working with specimen

Northstar: Young Black Students Explore Career Pathways with Adaptive Technology

PillPal Medication Distribution System

Simplifying Medication Adherence with Thoughtful Design

Building Connections to Native Culture Through Interactive Design

mdp-cover

Design Is Around You: Shifting Public Perspectives Through Urban Engagement

Blue Lotus Logo

Blue Lotus App Pursues Menstrual Equity

Radiation Guides 2022

Three New Guides Now Available for Cancer Patients

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Improving Healthcare Outcomes in Africa with At-Home Technology

You Have to See It To Understand It

Opening Access to the Mental Healthcare System

Graduate students participating in a workshop with ID's Equitable Healthcare Lab.

Co-designing Primary Care That Communities Want and Will Use

Redesigning Carceral Education for a Pandemic

Preparing for the Next Pandemic