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, sociology, 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 program to focus on the individual student. There are six platforms, 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 Department programs, 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.

Download a PDF version of the Design Products Department Handbook.

A copy of the full RCA Handbook and Regulations 2009 is available here.

Open Days for 2011/12 applicants will be held in autumn 2010 and spring 2011. Please check back in early autumn for full details.

+44 (0)20 7590 4322
design@rca.ac.uk