The museum started with a question: Who is design actually for?

In 2012, Chicago didn't have a design museum. What it had was a city full of design, in transit maps, protest posters, church bulletins and hand-painted signs above corner stores. DMoC was built on the belief that all of it counted, and that the people who lived with it every day deserved a museum that said so. Free admission, short-term exhibitions, and a floor plan that moved wherever the public already was: shopping malls, CTA train cars, Navy Pier, and more.

The design work was inseparable from the institutional work. Every decision about where to show, how to organize, who to invite, and what to platform was a design decision. Building an institution from scratch meant designing its values before its logo, its operations before its brand, and its community relationships before its programming calendar.

Over fourteen years, that work produced 56 exhibitions, 62 workshops, 303 free public events, 1,519 designers published, 547 community partners, 108 interns, and 74,424 square feet of public art commissioned. More than 10,000 student artworks were displayed. The museum ran free, every day, for 3,734 days.

In 2026, Tanner transitioned out of the role he founded. DMoC continues.

Learn more → DesignChicago.org