RDI Address 2013: ‘The Correct Use’

Malcolm Garrett RDI, graphic designer and incoming Master of the RSA’s Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry will give the 2013 address, highlighting the value of design in education and industry.

Malcolm Garrett is widely regarded as a significant influence on the development of graphic and digital design in the UK. Known for his innovative work in the music industry from the late 1970s onwards, and pioneering interactive design from the 1990s to the present, Garrett has worked at the forefront of technological innovation in design practice and continues to be inspired by the new communication channels opening up in the digital age.

 
The Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry comprises many different design disciplines, and yet the term 'discipline' implies that there are only 'correct' ways of doing things. Whilst each discipline has a defined framework which governs expectations and outcomes, designers are nonetheless encouraged to question the validity of everything they are presented with. It is an inherent irony that design is at once reliant upon accepted practice, yet must challenge convention in order to produce fresh or ground-breaking results.
 
Malcolm Garrett reflects that a spirit of teenage rebellion has remained with him, and that with a maturity, clarity of vision, and 'correct use' it can harness the complementary and cross-disciplinary expertise of the Faculty, to further the understanding and value of design in education and industry.

Speaker: Malcolm Garrett RDI, graphic designer and incoming Master of the RSA’s Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry.

Chair: Matthew Taylor, chief executive, RSA.

Prior to the Address, 7 new Royal Designers for Industry (RDI) and 2 Honorary RDIs will be welcomed to the Faculty.

The title ‘Royal Designer for Industry’ was introduced by the RSA in 1936 to promote a high standard of design and raise the profile of the design profession. Now regarded as the highest accolade for designers in the UK, it is awarded annually to designers of all disciplines who have achieved sustained design excellence, work of aesthetic value, and significant benefit to society. A maximum of two hundred British designers can hold the title and non-UK designers may receive the honorary title Hon RDI.