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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Students

Join us for ID’s End of Year Events, May 10–11

In-Person and Streaming Events Start Friday, May 10

April 23, 2024

The public is invited to celebrate the accomplishments of the ID community in the 2023–2024 academic year and its recent graduates.

Festivities begin on Friday, May 10, at 6pm at the Kaplan Institute.

Melody Roberts (MDes 1998) and student speaker Jorge Martínez Arana (MDes + MBA 2023)

Melody Roberts (MDes 1998) and student speaker Jorge Martínez Arana (MDes + MBA 2023)

Friday: Graduation Remarks

The End of Year Celebration program will begin at 6pm with Commencement Remarks & Reflections from ID Dean Anijo Mathew, Director of Student Success Shari Jones, graduate Jorge Martinez Arana, and ID alum Melody Roberts (MDes 1998).

Register here to stream or attend ID’s Graduation Remarks.

Graduation Remarks
Friday, May 10, 6pm
Illinois Institute of Technology Mies Campus
Kaplan Institute
3137 South Federal Street
Chicago, Illinois

Register & Join Us

Friday: End of Year Show 2024

Following the Graduation Remarks, ID will open its 2024 End of Year Show: Boundless.

A digital version of the show will also be available at eoys.design starting on May 10.

Register here to join us for the Opening of ID’s End of Year Show.

End of Year Show Opening Celebration
Friday, May 10, 7:30pm
Illinois Institute of Technology Mies Campus
Kaplan Institute
3137 South Federal Street
Chicago, Illinois

Register & Join Us

Anijo Mathew and Jessica Meharry (PhD 2022)

Saturday: Commencement Ceremony

Degrees will be awarded on Saturday, May 11, 2023 during the 2023–24 Commencement Ceremony at Illinois Tech in a ticketed in-person ceremony.

ID students, family, and friends are invited to stream the Institute of Design, College of Architecture, and College of Computing Ceremony. Saturday Commencement details will be updated at Illinois Tech website.

Commencement Details

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