A collaboration of the UIC, Columbia College Chicago and the Chicago Design Archive (CDA), the “Chicago Design Through the Decades” project is a swift exciting journey through the history of Chicago design over the last one hundred years with content based on resources from the collection of the CDA. Following engaging characters and textual tidbits found in design works held in the archive, the journey begins in the 1920s with the era’s painterly and illustrative techniques, evolves through the decades, and ends in the 2010s with digital rendering using AI and machine learning (ML)-technologies becoming increasingly prevalent in the contemporary landscape. At once nostalgic and whimsical, both humorous and sobering moments abound through the decades.

The project will be showcased as part of Art onTheMart with previews this summer and an official opening on November 17th.

The Chicago Design Archive is an exclusive and permanent online record of Chicago design currently holding over 3200 examples of work by over 1100 designers.

As designers and educators, Daria Tsoupikova, Sharon Oiga and Guy Villa Jr lead a team of creators and archivists whose overarching goal is to increase the understanding and appreciation of Chicago design history and to contribute to the recognition of Chicago as an international modern design center through their use of innovative technologies.

The project team consists of the following individuals:
Daria Tsoupikova, UIC School of Design & EVL
Sharon Oiga, UIC School of Design & CDA
Guy Villa Jr, Columbia College Chicago
Krystofer Kim, NASA
Fabio Miranda, UIC Computer Science & EVL
Jack Weiss, CDA
Cheri McIntyre, CDA
Lauren Meranda, CDA
Louis Schwadron, Sky White Sound