IIT Institute of Design

IIT Institute of Design (ID) has a history of innovation. It pioneered the development and dissemination of modern design right from its founding in 1937 as the New Bauhaus. In the 1960s, ID became a center of the first Design Methods movement, developing tools for structured planning—among the first applications of computers to design. In the early 1990s, ID helped pioneer the human-centered approach to design that has become a standard of design practice—applying ethnography and other social-science-research methods to the design process. In the early 2000s, ID helped launch the Design Thinking movement, linking design more closely to business innovation. Today, ID focuses on Global Challenges—preparing designers to take on the world’s complex, fast-changing, and unpredictable problems—such as competitiveness, digital media and learning, social innovation, health and wellbeing, and more. The world’s need for innovation is intense. Yet, the traditional approach of management science focuses on measuring current operations (which is great for improving the efficiency of what you’re already doing, but almost by definition does not lead to disruptive innovation). On the other hand, the traditional approach of art-school design programs focuses on individual creativity (which is hit-or-miss and ill-equipped to address the daunting challenges the world faces). What’s needed is a third way—rigor and creativity—a methods-based, human-centered approach to Global Challenges. That’s what IIT Institute of Design offers. ID is a professional school, like business school, law school, or medical school, focused on graduate students. (We do not offer courses for undergraduates.) As a professional school, an important part of our work is research. In 1987, ID introduced the first PhD program in design in the United States. All our full-time faculty conduct sponsored research and consistently publish papers, journal articles, and books. ID also off...