Everyone is a designer
EVERYONE is a lighting designer these days.
Pallavi Dean from Roar recently addressed this topic and we can't agree more 💯
In many design fields the barrier of entry seems to have changed and lowered over the years. Anyone who has a Pinterest account, is quick with 3D modelling or knows how to do light calculations can name themselves a lighting designer.
A few facts of things we see a lot these days:
- ideas and concepts are sold to clients that are never going to work. The reason can be plenty-fold. Most often, there is a disconnect between the proposed idea and the technical execution, through which the proposed effect and thus the promise cannot be kept. Everything, really everything can be made nice with Photoshop....
- compromising on lighting quality to get a project on track, instead of rethinking the concept, the product typologies, or changing manufacturer.
- selecting fixtures is not lighting design! Independent lighting designers IALD take many variables into account when designing the perception and the feeling of a space. An independent lighting designer knows the good and the bad aspects of lighting, and through this, can create a holistic, beautiful lighting ambience that works in real life.
- Fancy fixtures doesn't make a space more pleasant to be in, it just tells something about the project budget. As independent lighting designers we often get asked to redo the lighting in projects, even from recently finished high-end penthouses full of design chandeliers, because key aspects of perceptual design were overlooked.
- knowing how to handle lighting calculation software doesn't make you a lighting designer! By relying on software to tell you "what's good" the focus is put too much on quantifiable output instead of on creative solutions. At Studio De Schutter we live #creativityisourcurrency
- More light is not better, nor is it safer. What it is: more expensive in terms of products, installation cost and light pollution. With independent lighting designers our fee is not connected to the amount of fixtures we specify. Therefore we can design darkness. Studio De Schutter we are working on projects that protect dark-sky regulations and create bat-friendly lighting schemes.
... the list can go on.
Contacting an independent lighting designer might not be for everyone. It might be scary and hard to compare if you can get a concept "for free" from somewhere else. The question is what is important to you? A quick fix? A concept vision that can turn into reality? A bespoke solution that answers the user's and spatial needs?
What is your take on this? Get in touch if you’d like to know more about how we, as independent lighting designers, can help.
