What is reasonable ?
Singapore 9th October 2010
In our lighting design business or most design practices for that matter, there are lull times and busy times. In all the years that I have practiced lighting design not once have I had projects that are regularly spaced out over time, neatly following up one after the other and providing regular “9 to 5” work. It is either sleeping or racing, there does not seem to be a normal walk in the park sort of thing. We all know that and try to set up our resources to coop with the ever varying demands of the job. But somehow when you do multiple projects, deadlines always seem to converge to the same date, site visits and meetings seem to be organized on in the same week, and so on.
Clients generally don’t care about your problem. They hire you, they expect you to be on call and service them, that is what they pay you for. They have little compassion for the fact that you may have other clients too! That is at times, with limited resources doing multiple projects, why we issue time schedules for doing our work that are double or more then the time we actually need. But since we may not be able to work on one project continuously due to the many demands we have to build in that buffer. Still the saying (is it a saying?) that he shouts hardest get things done first, still much applies. Clients who make the most noise generally get our attention first…
So under the pressure of having to meet crazy deadlines we turn to our staff to help us out. We ask them to push aside what they are working on and submerge themselves totally to get the clients requirement completed as fast as possible. Which leads to the question how hard can we push, how much can we ask from our staff. Working overtime is no issue in our industry, but the issue is that in times like we experience at present overtime, including working weekends, is starting to become norm rather than exception. We may not want to let our clients down for risk of losing them, but then we should also be mindful of our staff as they also have a limit as to what is reasonable….?
Deepavali
Singapore 8th October 2010
Deepavali also known as Diwali, is the Indian festival of lights, a Hindu celebration of the triumph of light over dark or good over evil. According to Wikkipedia it officially means row of lamps in reference to the small clay oil lamps used in the celebration. Still according to Wikipedia the celebration is also the occasion where people ware new clothes, share sweets and snacks with the family and businesses start their new financial year hoping for prosperity in the following year.
In Singapore the streets in Little India have been lit up last night to mark the countdown to the actual celebrations early November. A sort of Chinese New Year for the Indian community you could say. Of course LED lights (rope lights mostly) are abundant as part of the decorations. I guess it wouldn’t surprise you that this year’s Deepavali light up is going green as well! You can see it coming… if you don’t throw “green” in the mix it is nowadays nearly a sin!
Besides that the street decorations include the traditional India oil lamps, lotus flowers and not to forget the Hindi Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi, the organisers also decided to go green. From the information I got, going green means switching to energy saving lamps and switching from yellow to white. No sure what it means as I have yet to go visit the place, but I assume that Sodium has been replaced by Compact Fluorescent and or LED lights. The thing is that using energy saving lamps is hardly called green anymore, it’s sort normal and common practice. But in these situation anything goes I guess to make the organisers look good and get the public on your hand.
In our lighting design we have recently used the Deepavali celebration of light as a lighting concept in one of our projects in India. Being representative of light and such important part of life in India it made total sense to translate the oil lamp tradition into a modern day version for the light up of a building.
What’s in a name (2)
Singapore 7th October 2010
In a previous blog I wrote about the impact of big name designers or celebrities to give extra sales value or importance to a project. Today it is about a totally different aspect of “names”. As we grow our business we engage more staff and as the team grows we start to differentiate the tasks and responsibilities of the staff. While I have sworn off titles and descriptions for myself a long, long time ago, new staff like to know what their job title is. It gives them some form of recognition and allows them also to position themselves towards clients and assert their responsibilities in their work.
In a small company with just a few people we basically do everything and support each other. Even as director it is no issue for me to make my own photo copies when others are busy but obviously as the company grows segregation and delegation of work becomes crucial for progress. So how to classify (new) staff and assess their position, title and with that their salary? Most job titles also slot the staff into a salary scale. But in our business sometimes the need is great and the balance between demand and supply challenging us to hire someone at a higher salary then we would normally. Then there is the balance between experience and qualifications. Higher qualifications do not necessarily come together with the required experience and let’s face it experience is key in our business.
In a big company work responsibilities are much more structured and organized and there is more opportunity to compare and allocate the positions. But still….can we name an older person with little experience a Junior Lighting Designer? Assistant Lighting Designer may suit a bit better. When do we start calling someone a Senior Lighting Designer? Longevity in a company also needs reward and in the long run there are opportunities to become a project manager, director, partner or associate.
Giving someone a job title is still a challenge for me as I feel that lighting designers are multi-disciplinary. Bit in the end it is all about performance and team spirit, so if the job title helps motivating the staff then finding the right name for the persons job responsibility remains an important thing.
Lighting at home
Singapore 6th October 2010
You may have noticed that I travel less these last few months. One of the reasons is that I am following a regular treatment for my back so I am disciplining myself to the cause of healing. Without good health all the rest means nothing, right? I am feeling much better and as part of the healing process I have started to swim a few times a week, whenever I can in one of the pools nearby. Tonight I went to do my laps but also enjoyed the fun part of walking back through the neighborhood at night while looking into peoples (illuminated) homes.
As lighting designers we are trained to create lighting effects to harmonise with an interior or exterior design style. So it is interesting to see how people in general go about lighting in their home and I can tell there is quite some variety. First there are the people who can’t be bothered, naked bulbs or tubes on the ceiling, sometimes just one point in the center of the room! If that is not enough it often comes in cool white daylight. I must say the interiors are generally matching in “sobriety”. Glary light sources (with a lot of wasted spill light) are typical in these situations, specifically the ones mounted outside on the garden wall. Don’t people realize that they pay for electricity they actually don’t use?? They probably don’t and don’t care. The lights were so cheap in the first place that the glare and spill is accepted as a necessary evil.
But then there are also those who have clearly spend the time (and money) to make things nice and tasteful. Carefully selected interior design furniture and finishing (you can argue about style, but that is personal) and generally it comes hand in hand with relatively well matching lighting. Definitely a higher degree of sophistication! Somehow the colour of the light has moved from cool to warm and cosy with dedicated task and spot lights.
Somehow I got the impression that these more tasteful houses also have the cars to match…
I-Light or Smart Light
Singapore 5th October 2010
The Marina Bay Smart Light festival to be held in Singapore from October 15th to November 7th now has a website called I-Light Marina Bay. It now appears the festival has been rebranded I-Light Marina Bay, just to create some confusion. The Smart Light Sydney organisers who are bringing the event to Singapore under Smart Light Singapore seemed to have faced some battles with the local authorities about naming, branding and probably ownership, which now have resulted in a new approach. I don’t know the whole story and there are probably two sides to the coin, but that aside the new website looks very promising and exciting. A lot of thought has obviously been put into it. See the link below.
I had another meeting today at Marina Bay to figure out the process of launching our artwork in the water, which is not as simple as you think as only authority authorized vehicles, boats and companies are allowed on or near the water. There are safety and security issues and would you believe it we can not just anchor our floating artwork platform without exact confirmation of the location as there are cables running at the bottom of the Bay and our anchors may rip them apart…auch! So all that has to be carefully orchestrated. I must say, as I reported in a previous blog, the production company is doing a great job. The launch and subsequent towing of our platform (14mx14m!) to its location will be an event by itself.
Honestly I had no idea when I submitted our entry for the Festival earlier this year that it would require so much additional formalities and preparations. Actually I didn’t think much at all. It was just a creative idea, we created a artist rendering of the concept, added a descriptive of the intent behind the concept and off it went. It is only when we were selected that it started to dawn on us what we put ourselves up for. I have to thank Pascal a million times for making this financially possible! Without his sponsorship it would not have been possible and as always the government grants provided are a far cry of what it should have been. Fingers crossed for a great event!
è Latest link to the festival with location map, background info at: http://www.ilightmarinabay.sg
Opening ceremonies
Singapore 4th October 2010
First there was the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, then the World Expo in Shanghai, China followed by the World Cup Soccer in South Africa and the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, and last night the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. A lot of world events this past year and I am probably missing a few. What the above ones have in common are the huge expenses spent in the opening (and closing) ceremonies. Lighting is key to these ceremonies so out of professional interest I watch these things; I have blogged about it before.
It was certainly not at the high level of the Beijing or Vancouver Olympic Games, which both saw amazing visual scenes achieved with the latest digital media technologies (remember the wales in Vancouver?) . Last night was more physical (lot of song and dance) with the only multi-media projection being the one on the center helium balloon which had the look of a Zeppelin for lack of comparison. Nothing really spectacular, with the basic lighting work horse being the intelligent moving heads, which made the most of their mostly peripheral locations around the stadium (*).
There were a few “lighting moments” though. The first being the LED illuminated Indian sitars. Decorating the music instruments with LEDs was a nice touch adding to the magic. Then there was the LED Yoga class. India is the birthplace of Yoga and many other holistic therapies so having Yoga and the 7 color chakra’s as key element in the ceremony was appropriate. Having a few hundred yogi’s wearing an LED headband while executing yoga positions was a novelty. LED lighting arrived in the holistic world of Yoga last night! Last but not least there was a parading float of typical Indian products and low and behold, one of the floats was a big chandelier! The first time I saw a lighting product promoted during an opening ceremony!
(*) Note: I remember the Jawaharlal Nerhu Stadium in Delhi from my early days in Philips, the masts have a very distinctive tilted angle from its base outside to its head frame inside the stadium. But what I remember most from my climbs high into the floodlight head frame was the thick bed of dead insects we had to step through, all fallen dead from flying into the bright lights….)
Massage
Singapore 3rd October 2010
Weekends are for relaxing (when we can) so what better way to go out for a nice massage. I like to get one later in the evening as I generally sleep well afterwards with a relaxed mind and body. Getting a massage, whether just a foot or a full body massage is a way of living in Asia. When appropriate it is even linked to business, a place you go to relax with a business relation or team members…let’s call it a bonding session. A different alternative to those who do not play golf … :). It allows us to unwind in a relaxed environment. With the mind more relaxed it is easier to get to know each other, discuss issues and find solutions.
In a way a massage is a great metaphor for our consultancy business as well. Invariably during one or more stages of our projects we land in stress situation and somehow we need to “massage” it away so we can be more relaxed afterwards. That is when we need to identify the cause and location of the stress and then apply some “massage” to it. To continue the analogy you need to know what you are doing and not further rub “salt” in the wound. Massaging is an art with skillful and gentle movements. In business it is called diplomacy and responsibility. While we have to own up to our responsibilities careful diplomacy (certainly in the context of different cultural backgrounds!) is needed to point out perceived shortcomings of the other party. Just trying to be right will still make you end up with some stiff muscles somewhere…if you massage well everyone is happy, the receiver because the stress is gone giving way for a good feeling, the giver because the receiver is grateful towards you, which will come back to you in some form or way.
I know in theory it sounds nice…applying it in real life is a different story, but at least acknowledging that we have a choice to massage “business stress” away is the first step. Last night for me was just a personal affair; we had a nice couples room to ourselves…and slept like babies afterwards. As I am sipping my morning coffee I feel relaxed and full of energy for the week ahead…
Design Teams
Singapore 2nd October 2010
How time flies! It is October already and the end of the year is just a whisker away. Is it just me or do you also have this feeling of time just slipping away? I guess in a way it is a good sign as we are so busy being busy that our days are filled with a 1001 little and big things in our lighting design work that we hardly notice another week has passed (what happened to the 40 hour work week??). Weekends therefore are important to take a step back, analyse the week past, learn and then put it away till Monday. Tomorrow is another day….
In my “review of the week” I looked at possible co-operations with other project consultants that popped up as opportunities. The proverbial one plus one is three much applies when you tie up with other consultants such as architects, interior designers or even graphic design consultants to provide a larger knowledge based design team to a client. Though we have no fixed tie ups we have our regular “friendly” consultants such as architects and interior designers with whom we go into projects together. Obviously the integration of the services provides the client with an enhanced level of comfort knowing that we know each other well and that the interdisciplinary coordination should be very efficient.
If I look back on our past “associations” I can confidently say that they have nearly all come out of an initial successful project that we did together. Having worked successfully together on a project have shown our strengths and level of expertise giving each other confidence for a next collaboration. That confidence obviously rubs off on a new potential client.
This past week however I explored the opportunity of tying up with a local lighting design practice. It is impossible for us to have an office in each and every country we have a project so if the critical mass of projects is right a cooperation with a local company maybe an option. There are however many pro’s and con’s. Pro’s being obvious it is the con’s that need careful examination. Issues like reliability, confidentiality, company information, copy-right, future competition issues, etc, are just some of the things to consider. Anyhow, tomorrow is another day…time to enjoy my weekend!
Knowing your stuff
Singapore 1st October 2010
What a difference it makes when you talk to someone who knows his stuff… don’t you agree? It feels very comforting to deal with someone or an organization who seems to be on top of things and anticipates issues, has a great forward planning and a clear view around any problems. I had such meeting with the organizing production company for the upcoming Marina Bay Smart Light Festival in which I am participating.
Organising such events requires a lot of planning, coordination, preparation and consultation. Ordering the lighting equipment, agree on the location, get the necessary approvals from the local authorities, coordinate with the nearby building owners, arrange for power supply and since our Artwork is on the water we need additional coordination with the “water” authorities and arrange for boats and floating platforms! But we are getting there, no thanks to the determined and skilled support from the production company.
“Knowing your stuff” is the difference between success and failure most of the time. An experienced lighting designer can anticipate problems and issues because he or she has been there and knows how to avoid the pitfalls that potentially can ruin an installation. So unless you have gone through a project cycle (from idea to realization) a few times you will in my opinion never been able to call yourself a professional lighting designer. Considering that some projects take up to 2-4 years from conception to its successful launch a minimum of 5 years in the industry at project management level is required before you can confidently face a client with experience to match.
Dealing with “professionals” makes meetings fast and efficient. No sweet talk, no need to impress, you can cut straight to the point and the issues at hand. For your client a re-assuring feeling and you will notice they will be much more inclined to be hands off and leave it to you to handle. If you deliver the goods as well you have a happy client and you in the process are a happy designer.
Right now, after 30 years in the business, my experience and my references speak for themselves. Therefore I confidently know that I can call myself a professional, because I know my stuff!
Other lighting factors
Singapore 30th September 2010
We design our lighting installation initially based on the light distribution properties of the light source and optical system we plan to use. In other words we have a light “engine” that produces light and we play around with its beam to create a lighting effect in the space we are designing. I call that the primary lighting, straight from the light source. Today I received a copy of a tender package as issued by the architect in one of our projects in relation to the building façade cladding.
As always curious I studied the document to get a better understanding. I was surprised to see how detailed the architect had gone into specifying “lighting” related matters. I am talking about light transmission factors for windows, internal and external light reflectance of windows and cladding materials as well as actual colour rendering indexes for the same! It should not really say it took me by surprise because definition of these factors is crucial for the final appreciation of the building architecture and design. I just didn’t realize how detailed it was.
So that got me thinking about the secondary lighting components of our lighting design. Light transmitted through materials and light reflected of materials. In short the qualities and properties of the materials (whether translucent or solid) that intercept light our beams in space. They have a very strong influence on the end result of our lighting design and understanding its impact is crucial. There is good and bad news.
The bad news is the potential direct and reflected glare that may occur, making the light source visible to the eye in situations where we do not really want that. We all know the traps of polished marble stone floors that reflect concealed plinth lighting for instance. The good news is that we can also make a deliberate use of these characteristics and make reflections and translucency a purposed part of the design. Material perforations or partially frosted glass for instance allow some decorative lighting effects not possible with primary lighting alone.
It just reminded me how important it is to “control” these factors in our lighting design…
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