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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Masha Safina, Service Design Director, Accenture Song

Why Learning While Doing Is Now a Leadership Imperative

ID Partners to Evolve the Nation’s Report Card

Jordan Love pointing to the right, potentially indicating an audible

How to Build Organizational Dexterity

Professor Weslynne Ashton Published in Harvard Business Review

An ancient building juxtaposed alongside a contemporary building

Most Companies Won’t Reach 10 Years

Professor Weslynne Ashton Featured in WTTW’s Chicago Works Series

Tony Bynum at Fortune's Brainstorm Design in Macau in December 2025.

Tony Bynum Speaks at Fortune Brainstorm Design in Macau

Jessica Bogart Kasper, Head of Operations, Proximity Health

Brian Rink (MDes 1996)

Memorial for Brian Rink (MDes 1996)

Zeya Chen with the team's Red Dot Award

ID Team Wins Red Dot Award for Autonomous Shuttle Experience

ID Students Collaborate with Major Taiwanese Telecom in Six-Week Immersion Program

Ryan presenting with a screen that reads Designing for Trust in Urban Systems

Ryan Powell, Head of User Experience, Waymo

Grace and Latrina working on a healthcare systems map

How Are Design Roles Evolving in Healthcare?

Image of Weslynne Ashton with text noting that she has been shortlisted for the 2025 Thinkers50 Radar Award

Weslynne Ashton Recognized By the Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Awards

Floating Museum from Illinois Tech Day 2024 with Chicago Humanities

Chicago Humanities Returns to Illinois Tech with Talks, Tours, and Community Conversations

Screen from Northstar prototype asks,

ID Student Work Receives Fast Company Recognition

Sylvia Kim featured on the Deutsche Welle program Arts Unveiled

Deutsche Welle Explores How Bauhaus Principles Live On at ID