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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The B.I.A.S Framework

By Nigencia James

May 11, 2023

Detecting and addressing biases in design research

Detecting and Addressing Biases in Design Research.

Throughout this course, I had the realization that bias cannot be removed and is potentially quite difficult to change. Based on this, I felt that focusing on how to navigate that bias in research and synthesis for my final project would be the most impactful route to take. I wanted to create something that created an atmosphere of reflection and introspection for designers as our work typically impacts the lives of many others and as such, it’s important for us to be mindful of our biases. I also desired something that was suitable for individuals and teams to use at various stages in a project, mainly:
Before- To help determine whether to accept or reject a project
During- To help evaluate whether the approach taken is correct and identify potential areas for change
After- To bring into consideration whether synthesized data is representative of all viewpoints

The framework provides questions to ask yourself or your team during a research project and has the added benefit of being easy for non-designers to use as well.

Project Details

  • Class: Bias and Sensemaking
  • Instructor: Ruth Schmidt

Nigencia James

MDes + MBA 2023