The perfect lighting designer
Goa, 27th November 2009
To continue on the subject of “perfect” started in my blog yesterday, is there a formula for the perfect lighting designer? Or should I say the ideal lighting designer? What attributes should a lighting designer possess to be a “perfect” lighting designer? Does he or she exist? Again I would say…NO! We have many different lighting designers… the creative or innovative designer, the diplomatic designer, the practical designer, the compromising designer, the politically correct designer, the high profile designer, etc, etc… One thing I believe all designers have in common … that is “Ego”. Some have small Ego’s, some have big Ego’s and some have very big Ego’s. It is part of your pesonality. Some are individualists, some are team players.
Personally I think lighting designers should have a bit of all. They have to be team players, they need diplomacy, they need creativity, thinking out of the box, they need to be practical, they need to be knowledgeable about the latest lighting technology, etc. But there are a few key ingredients that need to be there to make the difference between an average, good designer and an excellent (near perfect) designer. These are experience, professional attitude and integrity. And when I say experience I would say at least 10 years… projects take a long time (sometimes 3-5 years) to complete and unless you have gone through the whole cycle of concept to commissioning a few times, preferably in different lighting applications and different countries, you will not have encountered all the challenges of lighting design. Even after having been in lighting design for over 30 years, I still learn every day. Which leads me to believe that near perfection may only be attained by the time I retire …….
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