Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
In partnership with the Design Museum of Chicago
ID@85: 85 Years of Making the Future (2022) by Annie LeueInstitute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
ID pioneered human-centered design. Beginning in 1986, under the leadership of Patrick Whitney, the school’s commitment to design strategy evolved to include a deeper understanding of people—human desires, needs, and routines—as central to the design process.
To meet new demands from increasingly savvy customers in the digital age, ID created groundbreaking programs in human-centered design and strategic planning. While ID students have continued to delight in experimentation and systems design, taking a human-centered approach to a design problem has become vital to their work.
Design Processes Laboratory (1984) by Institute of Design (ID)Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
“Design Processes Laboratory,” Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, ca. 1984.
Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Tech.
As a pioneering research center within ID, the Design Process Laboratory supported computer-supported design with high-tech equipment on-site, including a computer, a plotter, and graphical input and output peripheral devices and printers.
The laboratory played a major role in the development of design processes. Many disciplines within ID used it for the invention and development of new artifacts, systems, procedures, and institutions, as well as to pursue a common design methodology to find new ways for humans to benefit from computer technology.
Today, ID Action Labs reflect the laboratory legacy. Multidisciplinary teams of advisors, partners, and sponsors in nonprofits, communities, and corporations work with ID researchers on sustainable, equitable, and just solutions for cities, education, entrepreneurship and finance, food, healthcare, and technology.
House of the Future (1983) by Institute of Design (ID)Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
House of the Future, 1983.
Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Tech.
House of the Future, designed by a team of twenty-four students from ID, sought to address rising housing costs in the United States. While the disparity between housing and salaries has various causes, the team looked at the runaway cost of the technology to run utilities.
Heating, plumbing, and telephone service in a middle-class home required expensive electrical, electronic, mechanical, and other standard services. The team believed that major savings could be achieved by integrating technological systems with building structure and producing optimal systems in factories.
House of the Future (1983) by Institute of Design (ID)Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
Their research and analysis culminated in House of the Future, shown here in model form and recipient of the grand prize in the Japan Design Foundation’s first International Design Competition in Osaka, Japan, in 1983.
Aquatecture (1986) by Institute of Design (ID)Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
Aquatecture, 1986.
Project report. Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Tech.
Drawing on the techniques of structured planning, Aquatecture is a project from ID’s Systems and Systematic Design course—a conceptual systems design project focused on using water resources for food production, transportation, energy development, and manufacturing.
Aquatecture had four subprojects—Floating Fields, Cross-Roads in the Sea, Patterned Energy, and Mobile Offshore Industry—that speculated on how to develop a “macro-designed” environment with available technology to expand uses of the seas, lakes, and rivers as space, media, and sources of energy, food, and raw materials.
In 1987, Aquatecture won the Japan Design Foundation’s third International Design Competition. Student team: Srirang Jambhekar, Craig Zaplatynsky. Faculty: Chuck Owen.
Project Phoenix (1929-10-29) by Sunday, The Chicago Tribune MagazineInstitute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
Project Phoenix, 1988. Cover, Sunday: The Chicago Tribune Magazine, October 29, 1989, section 10.
Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Tech.
Project Phoenix came out of ID’s 1988 Systems Design Workshop and its investigation of the climate crisis, specifically the greenhouse effect. With Chuck Owen as their teacher, the team developed interlocking solutions divided into two proposals: Fire Reversed and Fire Replaced.
Fire Reversed aims to replenish and reinforce Earth’s photosynthesizing process, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through regreening deserts and barren land through domes under which selected plant ecosystems can thrive, and with a simulated floating environment built in mid-ocean areas.
Fire Replaced explores the use of space-based solar power to replace carbon-based fuels to produce heat, light, and energy to prevent further exacerbation of global warming. The project was honored as the Environmental Category Grand Winner in Popular Science magazine’s “100 Greatest Achievements in Science and Technology.”
Amoco (1994) by Institute of Design (ID)Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
Amoco, 1994.
Project report. Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, Paul v. Galvin Library, Illinois Tech.
A team of ID alumni at the Doblin Group, a design consultancy founded by Jay Doblin, outlined how the chemical and oil company Amoco could leverage design for customer satisfaction.
After extensive user research, the team proposed that Amoco develop a customer-driven facility (CDF), rather than a system based on supply economics, by transforming customers’ gas station experiences from dirty tasks to friendly, efficient, positive ones.
The team sought to (1) satisfy customer needs at every interaction within the retail facility; (2) rely on user-centered approaches, systemic view, and simulation of solutions; and (3), use all relevant aspects of design, architectural building systems, graphics and identity subsystems, and products and retail environments.
Nanoplastics: A Home System (1993) by Institute of Design (ID)Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
Nanoplastics: A Home System, 1993.
Project report. Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Tech.
Nanoplastics was one of two projects conducted in 1992 in ID’s Systems and Systematic Design course that were recognized in international design competitions.
The Nanotechnology project explored the home of tomorrow as a system of intelligent, adaptive, self-organizing products made of the latest new materials, although better understanding of nanoplastics has since revealed health and environmental concerns about the material.
NASA project (1986) by John GrimesInstitute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
NASA, 1986.
Photographs by John Grimes. Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Tech.
ID faculty members Chuck Owen, Dale Fahnstrom, and Keiichi Sato oversaw a student project, funded by NASA, to design a full-scale model of a space station to research and demonstrate methods for improving human experience, specialized systems, and products in a space station.
Generating the design concepts and systems for organizing the interior working areas of the station, the work culminated in a sectional mock-up of the space station that measured 14 feet in diameter and 28 feet in length.
It houses subsystems for inventory management, utility distribution, and equipment storage, as well as prototypes for a table workstation, personnel quarters, and even an emergency operating room that folds out from the walls.
Whole View Perspective (2020) by Patrick WhitneyInstitute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
Whole View Perspective, 2020.
The Whole View model is a tool produced by Patrick Whitney in collaboration with the ID community. While Owen’s “Structured Planning” tool facilitates the optimal beginning to a project, the Whole View Model provides a tentative structure for knowledge of design, as well as a pathway for design teaching, research, and practice.
Whole View Perspective (2020) by Patrick WhitneyInstitute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
The context of different design education types and the Whole View evolved out of ID’s efforts to identify stronger economic drivers for human-centered design than merely uncovering unmet needs—and the hope that clients would pay for whatever idea emerged to satisfy those needs.
The novel yet simple framework of the model helps organizations see how innovations in capability, business models, and user understanding can support each other to increase the chances that great new ideas are fully realized.
Pediapod (2001) by Institute of Design (ID)Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
Pediapod, 2001.
Project report. Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Tech.
Pediapod, designed by ID product design student Brian Stonecipher, is an operating table for infants. Physicians at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Chicago, which prototyped the product, found it reduced setup and teardown time and reported that it made infant catheterization procedures safer and smoother.
Its human-centered innovations include an undercut frame for easy carrying and resizing; snap-on straps for securing it to the operating table; mild Velcro restraints built into a disposable surface pad, with higher-force ones that clip to the frame; and a low product profile, for easy access to the patient amid their equipment.
Base of the Pyramid (2004) by Design Management ReviewInstitute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
In "Designing for the Base of the Pyramid," Whitney and ID research associate Anjali Kelkar boldly explored the contributions design could make to informal economies in disenfranchised parts of India.
The team used a modified version of the POEMS framework—People, Objects, Environments, Messages, and Services—developed at ID. POEMS helps document how people interact with the designed world and provides a user-experience framework that helps analyze physical, cognitive, social, and cultural aspects of daily life.
The team worked from high-level design criteria (such as access to credit, economic opportunities, and secure earnings), and then mapped them to both a list of basic needs (such as employment, safety, shelter, and water) and design criteria to ensure that each concept existed independently, and was intrinsic to the system.
Profile of Patrick Whitney (2006-06-19) by BusinessweekInstitute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
Robert Berner, profile of Patrick Whitney, Businessweek, June 19, 2006.
An article by Robert Berner published in Businessweek in 2006 describes Whitney of ID as the design visionary who was providing industry with its innovators.
After lauding Whitney and his leadership in the effort to turn design into a respected modern discipline, Berner wrote that business culture demands managers who can master the process of innovation, not “administration”: “Patrick Whitney has made ID one of the best sources of creative talent for business today.”
Thinkering Spaces, 2007.
Funded by the MacArthur Foundation, ID faculty members Dale Fahnstrom and Greg Prygrocki combined multimodal technologies, sensorial objects, and open-ended activities in a physical space to create new experimental opportunities for exploring, tinkering, learning, and interacting in the virtual world.
They introduced “ThinkeringSpace,” a hybrid system of networked and remotely accessible physical environments that seeks to bring school-age children together to tinker with things, both physical and virtual, to reflect upon what they do and discover, and then elaborate their ideas in ways they can share with others.
“Ceasefire Community Campaign for Violence Prevention,” May 2009, South Chicago.
Project report.
ID students used the ID process—in-depth research on target audiences, market context, technology trends, and cultural dynamics, followed by structured methods, tools, and frameworks to create a viable conceptual direction—to develop a communications strategy for CeaseFire Chicago, an anti-violence organization.
The objective was to change thinking about the social norms and behaviors that perpetuate the transmission of violence at the individual and community levels. Over a period of three months the project team interviewed CeaseFire staff, area residents, local stakeholders, and potential enabling partners to define the problem.
In their final report, the team proposed “a participatory communications platform that connects to community motivations to encourage all residents to participate, while ensuring their safety.”
ZeroZero (2010) by Institute of Design (ID)Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
ZeroZero, 2010.
Project report.
Conducted as part of a communication design workshop at ID, and entirely original in its objective, ZeroZero tackled the problem of “placemaking” from a specific point of view—the Chicago Loop.
ZeroZero refers to the intersection of State and Madison Streets, the “zero zero” point in Chicago’s grid system. The Loop is an interesting “place” because it can be deconstructed into an array of historical artifacts, personal memories, political engagements, tales of business, failed dreams, and so on.
Loop Alliance worked with ID students and faculty to understand how people orient themselves. The team designed a unique placemaking experience at the location, inviting people to learn about where they were standing. Student team: Eugene Limb, Elise Metzger, Joseph Shields, Brian Strawn, and Sally Wong. Faculty: Anijo Mathew.
SkyWords: An Engagement Machine at Chicago City Hall (2012) by City of Chicago Cultural PlanInstitute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
“SkyWords: An Engagement Machine at Chicago City Hall,” City of Chicago Cultural Plan, 2012.
In 2012, ID students, overseen by Anijo Mathew, created SkyWords, an interactive installation at the Chicago City Hall and The City Listens, an interactive installation at the Old Town School of Folk Music.
Both projects were part of the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan initiative developed for the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).
Immersion Programs: India, São Paolo, Taiwan (2011/2018) by Institute of Design (ID)Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
Immersion Programs: Brazil, India, and Taiwan, 2011–2018.
The India Immersion Program was started with Godrej & Boyce in 2011 as an opportunity for participating ID students to experience design through immersion in a different culture. Led by ID faculty, this initiative engendered learning experiences beyond the classroom with programs in Brazil, India, and Taiwan.
Back to the Future with the CAIVman (1969) by Robert Cross, Chicago TribuneInstitute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
Robert Cross, “Back to the Future with the CAIVman,” Chicago Style section, Janet Franz, editor, Chicago Tribune, 1969.
Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Tech.
The CAIVman—short for Computer Audio Interactive Video Manipulator—is a handheld, multimedia disc player, a non-working prototype of a device that would project digital information from compact laser discs into binocular-like eyepieces.
Earphones would pick up more information from the computer disc soundtrack, and a computer mouse-like ball attached to the top would enable students to call up yet more detail.
The CAIVman was designed in response to Sony introducing its small “hypermedia” discs in 1989, intending them only for bulky computer monitors. With his CAIVman design, Chris Conley won Sony’s national Design a Vision contest, which seeks innovations in electronics for children.
“End of Year Show,” May 11, 2012.
Opening reception poster.
EOYS—End of Year Shows—are highly anticipated annual exhibitions of student work that mark the end of the academic year at ID, complete with a celebratory opening reception. This program accompanied the 2012 EOYS, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the school.
This program includes elements from the past (the Knowledge Box of 1962); the present (the Mobius strip structure, which held the current work); and the future (the Design Experience, which was an interactive physical maze that invited attendees to express their thoughts about their design process).
TidyTilt (2012) by Institute of Design (ID)Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
TidyTilt, 2012.
TidyTilt is an ID-student invention made for a class and then acquired by the Swiss-American manufacturer of computer peripherals Logitech. It provides a way to untangle headphone cords while serving as a handy kickstand and magnetic mount for the iPhone.
ID and the Design Museum of Chicago partnered to organize this exhibition, which uses 85 key stories to demonstrate the vital role of design—and ID—in improving life, from gas stations to space stations; camping shelters to an app for urban explorers; a better bar of soap to a doable reimagining of water resources for food, energy, and manufacturing.
These stories fall into four eras:
1) Experimentation
2) Systems
3) Human-Centered Design (this story)
4) [Era in Process]
With thanks to William Chen, Todd Cooke, Kristin Gecan, Nathan Keay, Mitchell Kunichoff, Annie Leue, Ashley Lukasik, Anijo Mathew, Mindy Pugh, Kevin Reader, Sujith Samuel, Adam Strohm, Amy Teschner, Martin Thaler, Hendriana Werdhaningsihm, and Tanner Woodford.
The institute of Design thanks all the lenders who contributed objects and materials to ID@85: Making the Future—particularly, the Illinois Tech Archives for the largest known set of objects the archive has ever loaned for public view.
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