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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Riding a Rollercoaster of Emotions

By Palak Shah

May 11, 2023

A framework emerging from analytical synthesis of qualitative data

This project entails a qualitative synthesis of the firsthand accounts of five expectant mothers. These women describe their unique experiences, detailing the challenges and emotional rollercoasters they faced throughout their pregnancies. Each woman shares her distinct journey, delving into the trials and emotional highs and lows she endured during her pregnancy. A comprehensive analytical method was utilized to derive a conceptual framework of the “low-income” pregnancy experience, illuminating its innermost workings.

Project Details

  • Class: Research Synthesis
  • Instructor: Kim Erwin