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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Alumni

Memorial for Miguel Ángel Cervantes (MDes 2010)

Remembering ID alum Miguel Ángel Cervantes (1979–2023)

January 26, 2023

Miguel Ángel Cervantes

ID alumni are invited to celebrate the life of Miguel Ángel Cervantes. Miguel was most recently a Senior Design Researcher at IDEO in Chicago.

“
Among the many beautiful things about Miguel was his love to host & gather and we look forward to doing this in his honor.
—Hayley Nickerson

Miguel Ángel Cervantes Memorial

Sunday, January 29, 4–7pm
Thalia Hall
1807 South Allport Street
Chicago, IL 60608

Miguel Ángel Cervantes1807 S Allport St, Chicago, IL 60608

Miguel Ángel Cervantes

Family and friends are collecting images for a photo memorial to be showcased during the celebration. If there’s an image you’d like to share, please submit as soon as possible.

Comments can also be shared via his obituary.