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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Raspberry Pi: A Tiny Computer with a Massive Impact

Season 3: Episode 3 of the With Intent Podcast Is Out Now

October 22, 2024

Raspberry Pi credit card-sized computer

Latham fellows Thamer Abanami and Albert Shum host Season 3 of ID’s With Intent podcast.

In Episode 3, available now, hear about the Raspberry Pi—a $35, credit card-sized computer that has revolutionized technology education and sparked innovation worldwide.

4.9 m
4.9 Million Learners Engaged with Raspberry Pi Projects Online
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More Than 26,000 Teachers Supported in the UK Education System
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12,000 Schools Activated Through the UK National Centre of Computing Education

Democratizing Access to Computing

This episode explores:

  • The origins of Raspberry Pi,  including the need to address the alarming decline in computer science applicants and rekindling interest in computer programming among youth.
  • Design principles of Raspberry Pi, including affordability with a groundbreaking price point of $25–$35 to democratize access to computing.
  • Impact on education and community, empowering educators and students worldwide while encouraging global community engagement and innovation.
  • Insights from Sheryl Cababa, Chief Strategy Officer at Optimistic Design and author of Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers.
  • Future implications and applications, including lessons on affordability, adaptability, and community engagement for future technological innovations.
“
If you are deploying educational technologies within a community, you should be talking to people within that community, or at the very least involving people from that community within the design process.
—Sheryl Cababa, Chief Strategy Officer at Optimistic Design

Raspberry Pi: Applying Technology in Education

Inspired by ID’s award-winning list of 100 Great Designs of Modern Times (originally featured in Fortune magazine), this season of With Intent explores the most groundbreaking design solutions in recent history. Raspberry Pi is #54 on the list.

Listen to Episode 3 of With Intent now. Make sure you click “Follow” on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notifications on all new episodes.

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