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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Prototyping Methods

Prototyping Methods

Explores the use of prototyping methods throughout all stages of the design process.

“
It was the most creative moment at ID, learning how to turn an idea into a reality with real-world examples and words from industry experts.
—Susan Onigbinde, MDes 2022

Objective & Outcomes

This course will study a range of prototyping techniques found within many fields of design. The focus is on how prototyping can be used to examine design issues and explore and communicate ideas. An emphasis is placed on early-stage prototyping and building craft skills through various drawing and building techniques including: sketching, concept drawing, paper modeling, sketch models, collage, and full-scale models.

Upon completing this course, students will have gained fundamental knowledge and abilities in drawing and building. And more importantly be able to discern and describe the appropriateness of various methods for different contexts within the design development process.

Typical Schedule

  • Session 1: Introduction & Brainstorming
  • Session 2: Franken-Prototypes
  • Session 3: Inspiration Collage
  • Session 4: Sketch Prototypes
  • Session 5: Scenarios
  • Session 6: Full-Scale Contextual Prototyping
  • Session 7: Industry Case Studies & Office Visit

See all MDes Courses