The Royal Designers for Industry

What is an RDI? 

The title 'Royal Designer for Industry' (RDI) was introduced by the RSA in 1936 to honour designers of excellence and promote the important contribution of design in manufacturing and industry. 

The RDI award that began as a means by which to enhance the status of designers today remains the highest accolade for designers in the UK and is conferred on those who have achieved 'sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient design for industry'.  Only 200 designers may hold the title at any time.

Royal Designers contribute to the RSA's design activity, notably through their involvement in the Design Directions student award scheme, and other projects such as the RSA Tipton Academy.

Since it was introduced, recipients of the honour have included Eric Gill, Gordon Russell, Barnes Wallis, Jonathan Ive, Vivienne Westwood, and Marc Newson.  Royal Designers are responsible for designing the Millennium Bridge, the iPod, the Rolls-Royce jet engine, the Harry Potter film sets and the miniskirt among other things.

Outside the UK, a limited number of designers are given the award of Honorary Royal Designer for Industry (HonRDI).  These include Dieter Rams, Milton Glaser, and Yohji Yamamoto.

The Faculty was formed as the association of Royal Designers for Industry. Its membership is a prestigious 'Who's Who' of leading-edge designers of all disciplines including engineering, graphics and interaction, product and furniture, fashion and textiles, and theatre and film design.

Who are the Royal Designers and Honorary Royal Designers? 

There are currently 129 RDIs and 57 HonRDIs spanning a diverse range of design fields.

RDInsights 

RDInsights is a monthly podcast series of engaging and informal interviews conducted by Mike Dempsey RDI with fellow Royal Designers.

Listen to the latest interview with Mark Farrow, a graphic designer.

RDI Summer School

In 2000, theatre designer and past Master of the Faculty of RDIs, Timothy O'Brien, and Chris Wise, structural engineer and current Master of the Faculty, set up the first RDI Summer School.

The school is a chance for Faculty members to share their knowledge and experience with younger designers. The aim is to challenge participants to think differently and to break down boundaries between disciplines and generations.

Each year, around ten RDIs meet thirty young designers, each with between 3 and 15 years professional experience, and five 'wild cards' (people from occupations outside design) to work intensively together. The young designers are invited to apply for a place and apart from a nominal registration fee all accommodation, subsistence and travel to the venue from London is generously supported by sponsorship, currently by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

The projects are abstract and intellectually challenging, relying on the use of the imagination rather than pragmatic methods of design. The value of the task derives from its difficulty - the difficulty of the unfamiliar and unexpected and the difficulties of collaboration.

The Summer School is a four-day residential event, which is held in a remote location. It liberates participants from the interruptions of everyday life so they may use imagination as an instrument of self-discovery.

The experience can have a profound and inspiring effect on those who attend, and the results reverberate out into professional practice.