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 Recognition

Students Honored for Social Impact Vision in Core77 Design Awards 2021

Defining an equitable and sustainable food ecosystem for Chicago

By Kristin Gecan

June 23, 2021

Core77 Design Awards

Core77 has announced the honorees of its 2021 Design Awards. Among them is ID’s project, Envisioning Sustainable Food Sourcing Solutions.

“
What we generated is a future that is at once measured and inspirational, allowing space for and calling forth new forms of agency and responsibility. We envision a food future in which it is easier for key actors to be good and do good.
——Justin Bartkus (MDes + MBA 2020)

Over the course of a 14-week collaboration between a variety of community partners involved in the Chicago food ecosystem, ID students sought to make the intentions of Chicago’s Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) actionable.

The plan was created by ID students in professor Carlos Teixeira’s Sustainable Systems Workshop.

“
The systems rendered by students in this workshop represent feasible, viable, and desirable pathways towards equity and sustainability. Informed by rigorous research, thoughtful debate, and strategic planning, these student proposals should facilitate further conversation and discussion and serve as actionable guideposts for the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) and industry stakeholders looking to transform our food economy.
—Carlos Teixeira, Charles L. Owen Professor of Design

This recognition comes on the heels of recent Fast Company recognition for socially responsible student work. ID’s Inclusion Diagnostic Floor Plan Tool was recognized as a World-Changing Idea earlier this year, and Non-Moving Violations: Advancing Equity among Low-income, Minority Chicago Residents was an Innovation by Design finalist in 2020.

The Core77 Design Awards annually celebrate the richness of the design profession as well as the insight and perseverance of its practitioners. Now in its eleventh year, the Awards program remains dedicated to excellence and inclusivity, offering both students and professionals the opportunity to promote their best work on a global scale across 18 distinct design disciplines. Envisioning Sustainable Food Sourcing Solutions can be viewed alongside other honorees at the Core77 website.

Learn more about the student proposals for Envisioning Sustainable Food Sourcing Solutions, and vote for this project to win Core77’s Community Choice Prize.

Related

Food items

Transforming Chicago’s Food Ecosystem for Everyone’s Benefit

Inclusion Diagnostic Floor Plan Tool diagrams

Students’ Plan to Create a More Inclusive Workplace is a World Changing Idea

Chicago tickets

ID Is a 2020 Innovation by Design Finalist