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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Ventra Redesign

By Fall 2024 Intro to Communication Design Class

May 16, 2025

Simplifying the Purchasing Experience for Public Transportation in Chicago

Ventra Redesign

In this project, Foundation students redesigned Ventra machines to simplify the purchasing experience for public transportation in Chicago. Using human-centered design principles and participating in fieldwork, students worked to eliminate confusion for locals and tourists from a visual communications perspective, ensuring a seamless experience from pass purchase to a successful trip.

Project Details

  • Class: Introduction to Visual Communication
  • Instructor: Tomoko Ichikawa | Jody Campbell