About
The Design Products Department recognises that design is an activity that fundamentally shapes our world and influences the processes of change. We aim for our students to find their own place, from where they can lead or contribute to these processes.
Although there is a focus on product and furniture design, we do not see any limitations to our field; understanding very well that most of tomorrow’s products and services do not yet exist today. As we are living in a rapidly changing world, we want to be forward-thinking and engage with new possibilities. We aim to engage with design as a cultural activity in the context of art, society, the environment, humanity, technology, and diverse forms and scales of production. The department has a strong culture of experimentation, innovation and debate. We see these as tools or systems to develop our thinking about design, and even more, what design can be.
The course is arranged in small study groups that we call platforms, tailoring the tuition programme to focus on the individual student. There are seven platforms this year, each with their own particular area of interest.
As a student, you will be given the choice to join the platform that best suits you. Each platform has two tutors who set the briefs, give tutorials and organise the platform’s activities. Alongside platform design projects, there are course-wide projects, college-wide lectures, Critical and Historical Studies lectures, and opportunities for cross-departmental collaborations.
The nature of the course is pluralistic; we encourage diversity in thinking, opinions and ideologies. There are no preferred methods or styles. Our aim is for our students to develop their own voices.
Three Focus Areas:
Extreme Functionality
What is the optimum way for a product to work? What is the most responsible way to design it? How can new technologies be best applied to design, and how can longevity be built into products?
The Social Manifesto
Taking advantage of new possibilities and social changes, how can designed objects, systems and spaces improve the quality of life, and what are their impacts? These are worldwide issues and make us look at design as an inclusive activity going beyond our western world.
The Fantastic
How can design make positive statements, inspire, and convey meaning?
How can design emotionally express our values? What is the designer’s role as originator, artist, manufacturer, and communicator?
For information about applying please click here or call +44(0)207 590 4444 or email admissions@rca.ac.uk