With Intent

In this episode of Design As , host Lee Moreau explores a key tension in AI development: moving fast vs slowing down. This roundtable conversation with Ruth Schmidt, Albert Shum, David McGaw, and Ruth Kikin-Gil examines the role of design in responsible AI and what happens when innovation outpaces our ability to reflect on its impact. Institute of Design at Illinois Tech Discover programs and reso...

In this trailer, host Lee Moreau previews the upcoming season of Design As , which was recorded at ID’s Shapeshift Summit in May. The summit brought together leaders from the creative, technology, and business communities to discuss the implications of AI on design and human culture. This preview offers a glimpse of their new season as it continues the conversations that started at Shapeshift— con...

In this episode from ID's Shapeshift conference , Terry Williams-Willcock, Chief Customer Officer at RUSH Digital, and Chelsea Pratt, Design Lead & Strategist at Thoughtfull, discuss ways that intentionally designed AI can address challenges to democracy. Key Topics Why "AI won't save democracy, but design might." The democratic crisis of trust: why people aren't disengaging from voting because th...

In this episode from ID's Shapeshift conference , Anamitra Deb, Senior Vice President of Programs and Policy at Omidyar Network, makes the case for "hardwiring humanity" into our digital future. Drawing from his grandmother's remarkable use of technology at age 100, from health monitoring to Netflix streaming, he illustrates how innovation succeeds when embedded in structures of human care and com...

In this episode from ID's Shapeshift conference , Ryan Powell shares how Waymo uses design to tackle one of the world's most pressing challenges: the 1.35 million annual traffic fatalities and 50 million injuries from vehicle crashes.  Key Topics The challenge of building trust between passengers and autonomous vehicles in the absence of human drivers The evolution from Phoenix's suburban environm...

In this episode, Patrick Whitney shares his path from reluctantly accepting Jay Doblin's invitation to teach a single course to discovering his passion for helping students grow. He reflects on the challenges of teaching design, particularly to eager freshmen students, and how that experience shaped his understanding of design education. Key Topics The fundamental tension between business's focus...

Hosts Thamer Abanami and Albert Shum explore the revolutionary Clear RX prescription packaging system, created by designer Deborah Adler. What began as a personal experience with her grandparents' medication mix-up evolved into a groundbreaking design that transformed how medications are dispensed in America. The episode reveals how thoughtful design thinking, strategic partnerships, and persisten...

In this episode, hosts Thamer Abanami and Albert Shum explore the groundbreaking design of the OXO Good Grips Peeler, an everyday tool that transformed how people interact with kitchen products. Featuring an exclusive interview with Davin Stowell, the founder of Smart Design and the visionary behind the peeler, the episode unpacks the story of how one small tool became a design revolution. Created...

Hosts Thamer Abanami and Albert Shum explore how Zipline is addressing critical gaps in healthcare delivery through the use of autonomous drones. Especially in underserved rural areas, where timely access to medical supplies can mean the difference between life and death, Zipline's iterative approach to widening healthcare access has made real impact. The discussion highlights the key elements of...

Hosts Thamer Abanami and Albert Shum delve into the creation of Raspberry Pi—a $35, credit card-sized computer that has revolutionized technology education and sparked innovation worldwide. They explore the origins of the Raspberry Pi, its foundational design principles, its profound impact on education and industry, and why it succeeded where other educational technologies struggled. Joined by sp...

In this episode of the With Intent podcast byIIT's Institute of Design, hosts Thamer Abanami and Albert Shum welcome LifeStraw CEO Alison Hill. They discuss how LifeStraw was borne out of innovative technology and a unique business model that balances profit with purpose.   Key Points:   The global water crisis: 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water LifeStraw's origins with Vestergaa...

Hosts Thamer Abanami and Albert Shum explore the tale of Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 New York City Subway Map. Vignelli's design was celebrated for its modernist brilliance yet heavily critiqued for its practical shortcomings. Here, Thamer and Albert delve into the tension between geometric abstraction and geographic accuracy, examining how Vignelli’s map became both a milestone and a lesson in design...

In this introductory trailer to With Intent Season 3, hosts Thamer Abanami and Albert Shum introduce themselves as this year’s Latham Fellows at the Institute of Design at Illinois Tech. They share their excitement about co-hosting the podcast and reflect on their 15-year professional partnership, including their collaborative work on a broad range of design projects and their previous podcast, Th...

In the final episode of our second season of With Intent, Jarrett Fuller asks ID Dean Anijo Mathew, Where Must Design Go Next? Anijo discusses ID’s pioneering history and where it’s headed next—summarizing ID’s four eras, defining what he calls Design Plus, and contextualizing the three forces acting on design today and where they will lead us. Institute of Design at Illinois Tech Discover program...

In the fifth episode of our second season of With Intent, Jarrett Fuller asks ID Associate Professor of Environmental Management and Sustainability Weslynne Ashton and Associate Professor of Design for Technology and Society John Payne, How Can Design Make the Biggest Impact? “In the business world and in the government space, people often look around the world for ideas to select and decide on—as...

In the fourth episode of our second season of With Intent, Jarret Fuller asks ID Associate Professor of Healthcare Design and Design Methods Kim Erwin and Associate Professor of Civic and Community Design Maura Shea, Why Is Design Always Talking About Complexity? Kim and Maura discuss making change in large communities and systems through asset-based community development, the value of modeling co...

In the third episode of our second season of With Intent, Jarrett Fuller asks ID Associate Professor of Behavioral Design Ruth Schmidt and Charles L. Owen Professor of Systems Design Carlos Teixeira, What If Human-Centered Design Isn’t Enough? Ruth and Carlos discuss the capabilities and limits of human-centered design, the concept of humanity-centered design, and how the evolving role design play...

The second episode of our second season of With Intent asks ID Associate Dean Matt Mayfield and Assistant Professor Zach Pino, How Do You Teach Design for Tomorrow? Matt and Zach discuss ID’s ever-evolving curriculum, the relationship of design to art, how students learn about technology at ID, the recent “seismic shift” in students’ goals, and challenges and opportunities of a field in flux. Jarr...

Jarrett Fuller asks, How does someone become a designer? in the first episode of Season Two of With Intent. This episode features Tomoko Ichikawa, Associate Professor of Visual Communication, and Marty Thaler, Associate Professor of Product Design. Tomoko and Marty discuss ID's Foundation sequence—possibly the strongest tie that ID has today with its history as The New Bauhaus. (Foundation at ID m...

Mushon Zer-Aviv is an activist, artist, and designer. He's currently at work on devising new ways of understanding change and the future—ways that account for the limits of forecasting and consider the "darkness" of the future as a place for hope and possibility. He also discusses systemic bias, the value of small talk, his appreciation for Rebecca Solnit, Naomi Klein, and Milton Friedman, and how...

Marina Gorbis is executive director of the Institute for the Future, a place where business executives, policymakers, nonprofits, and others use foresight and futuring techniques to make better long-term decisions. For example, you might work with the Institute for the Future to anticipate and be able to plan for a worldwide pandemic. In fact, Marina worked on just such a project years before COVI...

Jon Veal is co-founder of alt_, an organization that focuses on the power of community. The alt_ market is the organization's flagship program. Their first market transformed an abandoned space into a communal free market, encouraging community members to give, take, and take care of one another. Jon talks about how serving his community and making art come together for him, the importance of fait...

Kenneth Bailey, co-founder of the Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI), and co-author of Ideas, Arrangements, Effects, talks about his approach to building a better possible world. Talking about specific projects like Public Kitchen, as well as the thinking and pragmatism shared in his book, Kenneth presents an approach to building that new world. As he sees it, one must go beyond the pro...

Michela Magas has had a nonlinear career path driven by a focus on bringing people together to make deliberate decisions that enable long-term creativity and innovation. Those decisions may reside in the realm of intellectual property, as in the Industry Commons, or music technology, as in the case of MTF (Music Tech Fest). Michela talks about how to foster innovation by bringing people from dispa...

Episode 5 of With Intent is available now. Ruth Reichstein is part of the European Commission’s Presidential Advisory Board on the New European Bauhaus, or NEB, which was developed to help the EU achieve the goals set forth in its Europe Green Deal. The NEB aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. We at IIT Institute of Design (The New Bauhaus) announced our partnership wit...