RIT Design Educator and Webster Resident Honored with IDSA Education Honors Award

Alan Reddig, industrial design lecturer in RIT’s School of Design and a resident of Webster, won the Industrial Designers Society of America Education Honors Award at the Northeast District Conference of the IDSA. Reddig was honored with the inaugural award at the district conference in Cambridge, Mass., held March 27-29.

Reddig bested educators from such top design schools and universities as Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Syracuse University, Art Institute of Philadelphia, Philadelphia University, Kean University, Massachusetts College of Art, Montclair State University, University of the Arts, University of Bridgeport and Wentworth Institute of Technology. A panel of judges made the final selection.

Sam Aquillano, a 2004 graduate of RIT’s industrial design program, who currently designs home entertainment products for Bose Corp., nominated Reddig. Aquillano is a member of IDSA and Reddig’s former student.

“Alan had a huge impact on my education and career,” says Aquillano. “He was the first person to really push me to make something new, in fact he demanded it. His demand inspired me: it was a consumer product design class; he wanted us to create a new housewares product. Not new styling for a toaster or a blender, but something totally new. He wanted us to find a user need and a gap in the marketplace and fill it with a product. This cemented the idea very early in my academic career that design is much more than styling, but a process for creating new, useful and exciting projects.”

Reddig is the faculty advisor for RIT’s student chapter of the IDSA. He teaches undergraduate and graduate level studio and lecture courses in industrial design, design history, materials and processes, and professional practice. Prior to teaching at RIT, Reddig worked as an industrial design unit manager at Eastman Kodak Co. and a senior industrial designer at David Cooper Associates Ltd. and Harris RF Communications.