Lighting Designer Qualifications

[77401]

I had a customer ask me if I knew a lighting designer. Of course I told her I was. All she needed was 4 recessed cans in her bedroom being used as an office. So I charged her more for telling her that! LOL

But then I'm thinking is there really a such thing?
IMO, experience & installing gives us all a title of lighting designers.
But is there an acreditation, another license fee, CE, for such a title?

[ron]

These are the two organization that I'm aware of.
http://www.ncqlp.org/
http://www.iald.org/
There is no legal requirement to be certified.
Since I can perform a zonal cavity calculation and use a Autocad based program for point to point footcandle calcs for a data center, sometimes I call myself a lighting designer too, but no official certifications.

[e57]

Heard a great joke....

How do you tell the difference between an Archetect, and a Designer?

An Architect waves one hand (Pope-like), a Designer is waving both. (Frantic)

Its better as a visual joke......

Personal experiance dictates that most "Lighting Designers" are often over-glorified salemen/persons with little of none of the knowledge to accomplish effective functional design, they often shoot for visual appearance and sacrifice the actual funtion, and often leave those details to the contractor. Which leads to the finger-pointing end.

As far as qualifications: A lisp helps. :)

[bphgravity]

The only recognized design professionals in the state of Florida are licensed architects and licensed engineers. If the individual is not one of these, I would question their credentials.

[satcom]

As part of our continuing education requirement, i signed up for two lighting courses, one was indoor lighting, and the other outdoor lighting, the course instructors, were, professional engineers, that design lighting, there is so much involved, with proper lighting design, we were only able to cover some of the basics of design, i would recommend, taking at least a basic lighting design course, when you see all that is involved in the design, it changes the way you think about lighting jobs.

A lighting engineer is usually a licensed professional engineer, doing mainly lighting work, lighting manufactures hire many of them for their marketing departments, and support staff.

[TOMWELDS]

I never really saw one spec out a job right..for some reason they keep telling the customer "You'll be jazzed!"...LOL

[satcom]

Engineered jobs are usually well designed, you may of worked a job. where a sales person tried to play engineer.

[jeff43222]

The last guy I met who claimed to have been schooled in lighting design was working in the paint department at Big Orange.

While I don't claim expertise in lighting design, I do it from time to time when I deal with HOs who don't know what they want and need help from me to figure it out. I suspect that some training would make me better at it, but getting some kind of certification (there is no license) isn't necessary.

[charlie b]

I need to speak out in defense of those I have known who truly are "lighting designers." I don't mean salespersons, though some of the really good LDs I have know were in sales. I don't mean engineers, though some of the really good LDs I have know were engineers.

I've never heard of a college degree, a certification training program, or a license being required by a person who wishes to be known as a lighting designer. But I believe that you can know one, when you see one.

IMHO, in order to be a person to deserve that title, the first requirement is a thorough knowledge of the science of light and its impact on the human eye. Next is a detailed understanding of industry codes and standards. Equally important is familiarity with a broad range of lighting products and manufacturers. A person who only knows the product line of their own company does not qualify, in my view, as a lighting designer.

The best lighting designer I have known had a couple bookshelves of lighting system catalogs in his office. I would wager that he could find something in those books much faster than anyone could find via an internet search. If you were to describe a lighting problem to him, he could (if you let him keep on talking) tell you about the hundred or more similar situations he had encountered and the dozen or so solutions that seemed to him to work out best. Then he would reach into the bookshelves and, without hesitation, grab two or three lighting catalogs and turn quickly to the pages that displayed products that he thought would resolve the problem.

I guess that my real point is that the path to the title "lighting design" involves a long and difficult learning curve. A person under the age of 30 who claims that title is probably in need of a decade or more of experience, before earning my respect and admiration.

[ed downey]

Most of the Lighting Consutants that I deal with generally don't understand the cost of what they are specifying. Most don't really care about the cost and think that the owner will cut money out of somewhere else to make his/her lighting a masterpiece.

When I work on budgets on a project with a lighting consultant I will automatically add $2/SF minimum to the lighting portion of the budget and I will generally spell it out to the owner as a line item in the budget so they know what to expect from this consultant.

IMHO an engineer with a lighting background can do just as good if not better than a lighting consultant (Except possibly on Theatrical Lighting) and usually keep the project closer to budget.

Just my $0.02

-Ed

[mpross]

I guess that my real point is that the path to the title "lighting design" involves a long and difficult learning curve. A person under the age of 30 who claims that title is probably in need of a decade or more of experience, before earning my respect and admiration.

Age discrimination?

I do agree with your use of probably, though :)

-Matt

[bphgravity]

I guess that my real point is that the path to the title "lighting design" involves a long and difficult learning curve. A person under the age of 30 who claims that title is probably in need of a decade or more of experience, before earning my respect and admiration.[/SIZE][/FONT]


Great! I guess that leaves me and Ryan out of the loop. I guess I'll have to turn in this Electrical Code Official certification I just earned. ;)

[growler]

I think that all Charlie is saying is that you can make Vodka in a week but good Scotch whishey needs to be aged for a time. ( 20 years or more ).

[charlie b]

I would judge any person claiming the title of "lighting designer" n the basis of knowledge, experience, and ability to create designs that match the owner's needs and the available budget. Age itself is not a factor. But I would be surprised if a person younger than 30 (a random number, by the way) actually had enough knowledge and experience and ability to perform good designs in any situation.

By the way, in reply to Ed's post, let me say that I very definitely see a major distinction between what I have been calling a "lighting designer" and what Ed called a "lighting consultant." Speaking as a person who has been a engineering consultant for a long time, I like (and I identify with) the old joke that all it takes to be a consultant is a tie and a briefcase.

[mpross]

yes, i agree, and good analogy :)

[charlie b]

. . . but good Scotch whishey needs to be aged for a time. ( 20 years or more ).

Thanks for the support.

But let me say that it's not quite lunch time here on the West Coast. On your side of the country it is much later. Have you been at the Scotch Whiskey already? ;)

[charlie b]

I guess I'll have to turn in this Electrical Code Official certification I just earned.

Congratulations on your new certification. I know that such things are only given in recognition of extensive experience, knowledge, and effort.

By the way, are you claiming to also be a "lighting designer"? ;)

[bphgravity]

Age itself is not a factor. But I would be surprised if a person younger than 30 (a random number, by the way) actually had enough knowledge and experience and ability to perform good designs in any situation.

Well, looks like I have about 5 more months before I meet your standards... :rolleyes: Thanks for your nice comments, and no, I am not a lighting designer!

[boater bill]

I had to weigh in on this discussion. The NEC in table 220.12 shows a unit Va load by occupancy, which is the absolute minimum lighting loads for load calculations. If you specify and arrange efficient fluorescent lighting to meet he minum specified, it will dark if there are not other light sources, i.e. windows.

The best way to have the correct lighting levels is to get a copy of software such as Visual to layout the lighting to meet the task requirements for lighting levels without exceeding the energy building code maximum Va per sq. foot.

It's a balancing act to get the right amount of light and not use too much energy. It's a lot of fun though being creative in solutions that no one else will appreciate, unless you get it wrong.

[rr]

The best way to have the correct lighting levels is to get a copy of software such as Visual to layout the lighting to meet the task requirements for lighting levels without exceeding the energy building code maximum Va per sq. foot.That's how it's done out here in California. Except, we have to take it a few steps further in order to meet the energy requirements dictated by Title 24. This includes occupancy sensors, digital lighting control panels, dual ballasts and/or dimmable ballasts. Big brother is now involved as well. The new lighting standards have to include ethernet capable lighting control for power companies. The PoCo's will send a signal to all buildings to dim fluorescent lighting in large rooms by a pre-determined factor during a power emergency.

[JeffD]

The National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professionals has a certification for lighting professionals. http://www.ncqlp.org/
But like any other certification, PE, electrician, etc., experience and work ethic make a big difference on the level of skill of those certified.

[e57]

RR, I can't think of how many times I have tad to tell a "Lighting Designer" about Title 24, and get the "I've never heard of such a thing" look.

[boater bill]

Another thing good lighting can do is if you exceed the energy load requirements on a building design/installation, the owner qualifies for a federal tax rebate. Efficient lighting= less power=more money for owner and you. Some of the rebates can be quite substantial to the owner and a great way for the electrical engineer or remodeler to get better fees. The rebate levels are slightly more rigorous than the Florida Building Code and are scaled. 1.13 Va /square foot. Better energy usage, bigger % rebate. It will be ending in 2007, but a great way to help your owners/clients get more bang for their buck by using your expertise.

[sceepe]

The whole lumens vs. watts issue and the various control methods are the numerical puzzles that engineers like to try to solve. The other major portion of lighting design is in designing the asthetics side of it. Finding the right looking fixtures is one challenge. Finding the right light intensity, color, and illuminating the space to highlight the architecture is a lot more difficult (IMHO). That is where engineers (myself included) struggle and some lighting designers / consultants excel. The real challenge is ballancing both the technical side with the aesthic side. I can teach you to lay out 2x4 troffers to meet code in few hours. I think where the experience that everyone is talking about is required is for the aesthetic issues.

On a more important topic. Finally this forum has gotten to a topic I know something about. It only took me 200 posts to get there. What is this crazy talk about good scotch needing 20 years. Have you ever had 18 year old McCallan? $160.00 a bottle and worth every drop. Look; you could buy 20' of 500mcm copper or go with aluminum and get a great bottle of single malt scotch. I think I just made the best argument for Aluminum wire yet on this forum. Now, where can I put single malt wiskey in the specs????

[ceknight]

Finally this forum has gotten to a topic I know something about. It only took me 200 posts to get there. What is this crazy talk about good scotch needing 20 years. Have you ever had 18 year old McCallan? $160.00 a bottle and worth every drop.

Yeah, I had the same reaction but was afraid to respond and get the thread too far off topic. :)

18 yr old Lagavulin is one of the finest scotches released for general consumption. I have an 18 yr old Talisker that's pretty hard to beat, too. So I'm willing to allow that a good scotch only needs slightly better than 17 years in the barrel to be fit for human consumption. :) :)

I think Charlie would agree that 18 years in the field is a good start for any lighting designer, too.

[e57]

12 Year old Oban aint bad either....