FRIDA (inFRared Imager and Dissector for the Adaptive optics system of the Gran Telescopio Canarias) has been designed as a diffraction limited instrument that will offer broad and narrow band imaging and integral field spectroscopy (IFS) capabilities with low, intermediate and high spectral resolutions to operate in the wavelength range 0.9 - 2.5 μm. The integral field unit is based on a monolithic image slicer and the imaging and IFS observing modes will use the same Rockwell 2Kx2K detector. FRIDA will be based at a Nasmyth focus of GTC, behind the AO system. The main design characteristics of FRIDA are described in this contribution. FRIDA is a collaborative project between the main GTC partners, namely, Spain, Mexico and Florida, lead by UNAM.