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.

institute
of desiGn
Search

News & Stories

Filter
State of Black Design Conference

Chris Rudd and Azra Sungu present at the State of Black Design

Oat milk decision

Ruth Schmidt Pushes Behavioral Design Toward Complex Challenges

Positive Sum Design panel

Ruth Schmidt and Will Rutter Discuss Positive Sum Design

Zhabiz Shafieyoun

Celebrating the Life of Zhabiz Shafieyoun

Chris Rudd on Scratching the Surface

Chris Rudd interviewed on Scratching the Surface

Public Interest Technology Network

Laura Forlano Leads University Effort to Join New America’s Public Interest Technology Network (PIT-UN)

Assessing Community Engagement (ACE) Conceptual Model

Kim Erwin and Tomoko Ichikawa Work with National Academy of Medicine

Asmina Sheikh

Asmina Shaikh, Senior Behavioral Designer at McKinsey & Company

Tomoko with Students

Institute of Design Invites Applications for Funded Position in its PhD Program

UChicago Medicine

Kim Erwin appointed Visiting Scholar at UChicago Medicine

A young Charles Harrison

Charles Harrison Fellowship Supports Next Generation of Design Leaders

Farmed food

Weslynne Ashton Joins NSF Research Aiming to Reduce Wasted Food Nationally

Remembering Industrial Designer and ID Board Member Robert Blaich

Moholy-Nagy Foundation logo

Andreas Hug, Board of Directors, Moholy-Nagy Foundation

Denis Weil

Denis Weil Ends Term as Dean

Ruth Schmidt Provides a New Framework for Behavioral Designers

Remembering ID Alum Richard Schultz, Celebrated Furniture Designer

MDes + MPPA at ID

Current Students Discuss Our MDes + MPPA Dual-Degree Program