This year, The RSA (Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) awarded seven designers the title ‘Royal Designers for Industry’ (RDI). Granted annually, it is the highest accolade in the UK for designers in recognition of sustained design excellence, work of aesthetic value and significant benefit to society.

The ‘Royal Designers’ are the highest accolade in the UK, enriching our cultural heritage, driving innovation, and inspiring creativity in others. Recipients have included Brian Eno, Barnes Wallis, Lucienne Day, Jonathan Ive, Richard Rogers, Vivienne Westwood, Thomas Heatherwick and Norman Foster.

The RSA dates back to 1936 and was created to give recognition to exceptional designers to showcase their contributions to design in manufacturing and industry. During this time, design was widely undervalued and misunderstood, as a profession and as a tool to boost the economy and social progress.

Soon after, in 1938, the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry was established. New appointments are recommended to the RSA by the current RDI membership who represent an expanding and evolving design profession including; engineering, graphics, interaction, product, furniture, fashion, interiors, landscape, and urban design.

For the 2023 honorary event, RDI Marina Willer was invited to design and create the menus and invites for the awards dinner. She also designed the decorations and social media assets in the run-up to the event. 

Marina is well-known for her expressive and playful sketches using colourful stationery stickers. As the tradition for the awards ceremony is that the RDI designer follows an approach that is authentic and original, she proposed that each menu be made individually by hand, repurposing stickers. Marina then hand-selected the vibrant fluoro shapes that, when applied within a grid, created intricate patterns and a uniform language. 

The outcome is a celebration of colour and diversity, reflecting Marina’s unusual methods of design, using stickers to create something truly tactile that contrasts with the bombardment of the digital world.

There were over 90 menus created, every one unique, providing each Fellow with a special memory of the evening. Inside the menus was a pocket with a few sheets of stickers that the Fellows could use to stick on the tablecloth, on their clothes, bags or notebooks.

Marina’s team created the different digital applications, invites, film and social media posts to unify the language celebrating the 2023 RDI awards ceremony and announcements.

This year’s ‘Royal Designers for Industry’ nominations were announced on 30 November. The visionary designers being awarded RDI titles for their work in their respective design practices were:

Illustration – Lauren Child
Landscape Design – Nigel Dunnett
Sound Design – Kate Hopkins
Fashion Design – Lucinda Chambers
Product Design – Hella Jongerius
Illustration – Christoph Niemann
Landscape Design - Kate Orff