IIT Institute of Design

In April 2017, the Institute of Design hosted Robert Fabricant, co-founder and principal of the Dalberg Design Impact Group, as a Latham Fellow for a three-day workshop exploring connections between design and the Social Impact Sector. The goal of the workshop was to foster a dialogue and begin to create tools for designers entering into work in the Social Impact Sector. As this sector is incredibly broad and diverse, the workshop focused on four especially pertinent areas in which design overlaps: behavioral science, urban planning and design, mediation and conflict resolution, and community-based development. The three days were made up of multiple activities anchored by a sprint design project with Robert and the students and an event with local leaders at Lost Arts Chicago. The student workshop had twelve Masters students explore the four chosen topic areas through secondary research and interviews with experts in each area. After this quick immersion, the students used multiple visual mapping techniques to understand the patterns and connections between design and each area. From this, quick prototypes of tools that could be used in field were created to be tested out in the wild. These included a game to play with stakeholders on a development project and a set of reference cards for designers out in field on development projects.

In November 2016 students from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) were invited to attend the Business of Design Week Conference in Hong Kong courtesy of IIT alum, Victor Lo. The conference's theme was "Chicago Made" and featured speakers who have made an impact in Chicago in addition to designers from all around the world in multiple facets of the industry. After the conference students met to discuss their experience attending the conference and exploring Hong Kong. Jessica Lee is pursuing a Master of Design with interests in exploring the interplay of business with design thinking to create meaningful solutions, especially in social issues around disability rights and accessibility. Ignacio Martinez is pursuing a Master of Design focused on how qualitative and quantitative research can improve businesses and user experiences across digital and physical environments. André Nogueira is a PhD student at IIT Institute of Design with research interests in complex space of innovation, policymaking, food systems, and sustainable solutions. Previously he worked on projects related to organization design, business development, sustainable initiatives, urban planning and design, and architecture.

Panel event at The Art Institute of Chicago presented with IIT Institute of Design Upon its founding Moholy-Nagy referred to the New Bauhaus in Chicago as a "laboratory for a new education". As the New Bauhaus evolved into Institute of Design, his legacy of experimentation in education maintains through experiential, project-based learning and a commitment to prototyping. Over the past eight decades, ID's school-as-lab model has provided a forum to conceive new futures in healthcare, transportation, retail, finance, social services and computer-human interaction. The field of design has broadly adopted the human-centered approach grounded in the New Bauhaus as standard practice. Entirely new approaches to learning outside of traditional education models and infrastructures have been developed through the collaborative efforts of designers, entrepreneurs, artists, policymakers and others. This discussion will feature a multi-disciplinary group of panelists representing the academic, non-profit, and creative sectors. Patrick Whitney, Connie Yowell, Eric Ellingsen, and Dr. Melissa Gillian explore Moholy-Nagy's influential legacy of experimental education in Chicago. Panelists Eric Ellingsen Visiting Assistant Professor of Architecture, IIT College of Architecture Melissa Gilliam MD, MPH Professor of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Pediatrics, University of Chicago Patrick Whitney Distinguished Professor and Steelcase/Robert C. Pew Professor of Design, IIT Institute of Design Connie Yowell CEO, LRNG Moderated by Ashley Lukasik, Director of Corporate Relations, Communications, and Marketing at IIT Institute of Design.

IIT Institute of Design is formalizing a certificate option for students who wish to develop deeper expertise in social innovation through the pursuit of certificates like Non-Profit and Mission-Driven Management, Economic Development and Social Entrepreneurship, and Public Management. Students who obtain these certificates will gain cross-disciplinary knowledge of how public policy and philanthropy work, or how non-profits are structured, financed, and measured for success. In this interview, Shanti Mathew, ID’s first recipient of the Public Management certificate, she recognizes that “If I’m going to be embedded in a sector or field as complex as government agency or services there’s a lot I need to learn [about government, comparative political administrative systems, how government agencies are structured, how programs are evaluate].” This exposure will help her advocate more effectively for design and give her credibility to “talk about it in a way that adds value and that can build a bridge. That’s the kind of collaborative relationship we are looking for in this new world economy.”