Credential Potential

Credentialing for architectural lighting designers has stirred ongoing discussions among industry professionals for the past four decades. In fact, the subject was part of the initial set of agenda issues that the original founders of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) included in their discussions as they worked to establish a professional lighting organization in 1969. Today, the subject is once again the topic of discussion, and the IALD has now developed a more tangible framework for those conversations by presenting an outline of how a formal certification process might work.

While the IALD has considered credentialing several times before, it began a renewed effort two years ago, when the board of directors discussed the topic and learned more from a credentialing expert at a strategic planning meeting. The investigation of a credential was spurred in part by a piece of legislation proposed in 2009, Texas House Bill 2649 (HB 2649), which initially included language that would have restricted the practice of lighting design to architects, engineers, and electricians. (The bill was subsequently passed after the problematic language was removed.) "That was a big wake-up call for us," says Kevin Theobald, current president of the IALD and principal of London-based Kevin Theobald Lighting Design. "As an organization that represents lighting designers, we were concerned that policymakers were making decisions on our behalf because there isn't a validated benchmark for being a practitioner. Our mission is to raise the profile of the profession, so it seemed like a logical thing for us to look at the possibility of organizing an international credential for lighting design."

In 2010, the IALD board launched an international task force to study the feasibility of a certification, under the leadership of lighting designer and IALD member David Becker, director of lighting design firm Point of View in Sydney. "He has a good understanding ... [of the industry's politics] and of the profession globally, and asks the right questions." Theobald says. "He's not someone who would just push things through."

After the initial setup of the task force, which currently includes eight lighting designers, the IALD also invited participation from other lighting-design organizations, including the Professional Lighting Designers' Association (PLDA), the National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions (NCQLP), and, representing lighting manufacturers, the Lighting Industry Resource Council (LIRC). "This isn't just for IALD members," Theobald says. "It's for all professional lighting designers."

After an initial job-task analysis led to a rough model of the certification, the task force gathered feedback and used that guidance to create a more extensive prototype certification model. In March, they launched a webinar series and a questionnaire based heavily on the prototype to gather additional feedback that will be used to further refine the model. The questionnaire, which was set to close on April 27, had received more than 600 responses as of press time. The task force plans to make a recommendation in August to the IALD's board of directors on whether or not to proceed with development of the certification. If approved, implementing a certification might take about 12 to 18 months, Becker says.

Common Cause

Defining the profession through a certification program, created through established certification-industry standards, would reduce the chances of government bodies imposing regulations or restrictions on lighting designers, Becker says. "A profession that has already defined itself through the rigor of a certification process can speak more authoritatively as a unified group."

A credential could also help to elevate and validate the profession. "This is coming from demand both from inside the industry and from [clients]," Becker says. "Good designers are fed up with not having a mark to set them apart, and [clients] want to be able to measure excellence in ability."

A certification could have a number of other benefits for the lighting design profession, says Judith Hale, a certification expert and psychometric consultant to the credentialing task force, and principal of Downers Grove, Ill.–based Hale Associates. Crafting language to define the profession might help government agencies list architectural lighting design as a profession, making it easier for designers to bid on projects. It would also provide curriculum guidance to academic institutions, which would want their programs to be aligned with the industry's certification core competencies.

Lighting designers' support for a certification instrument has recently grown, Becker says, though the idea met with some initial resistance when the task force began its work 18 months ago. He thinks that part of that resistance was rooted in a misunderstanding of what the task force was proposing. Credentialing is an umbrella term that can cover anything from academic degrees to voluntary certification to state-mandated licensure. "I think people thought that a credential automatically meant that it was a license, that you need a license to practice, and therefore people felt that their livelihood might be under threat," Becker says.

The credentialing task force is proposing a voluntary certification, which would allow designers to distinguish themselves in the marketplace, but would not affect entry into the profession. The task force has no intention of pursuing licensure, Becker says. Because licensure restricts employment, it's generally set at minimum standards focusing specifically on safety issues. Certification will be "significantly more meaningful," he says, because it will be based on a higher level of standards.

Certification is also different from membership in an organization. "Professional membership demonstrates that you have a commitment to the profession," Becker says. "A certification demonstrates competency in the field against predetermined criteria." IALD membership would still offer validation to designers who practice independent lighting design—free of influence from manufacturers or supply chains—so a combination of IALD membership and certification to assess competence would be valuable to lighting designers, Becker notes.

While some experienced designers have argued that they don't need a certification because their portfolio speaks for itself, Becker thinks that the lighting design industry must plan for newcomers with smaller portfolios. "It's more difficult for somebody who's emerging, somebody with five years' experience," he says. "At this point in time, somebody who knows nothing about lighting can call themselves a lighting designer in the same way as somebody who's very talented, and there needs to be some way of differentiating."

Prototype Proposal

While the task force still has plenty of work to do in refining the certification and the governance structure, the general outlines are taking shape. The development and administration would be overseen by a governing body, independent from any existing lighting-design association but likely administrated by IALD staff until it becomes financially viable on its own. The body would also include representatives from a range of lighting-related associations.

Unlike the NCQLP's Lighting Certified (LC) certification, the architectural-lighting-design certification would not be based on a test or exam. Designers would submit a portfolio of their work to be judged by subject-matter experts against seven "domains of practice," a set of core competencies that describe architectural lighting design. Applicants would need to demonstrate that they have achieved the objectives of the domains through a written response, as well as through evidence such as submitted exhibits, photographs, working drawings, and models. A panel of reviewers would evaluate the application using a set of criteria based on the domains (the reviewer-selection process is still being determined). The certification would expire after a given time, though the recertification process is still being formulated.

Because creativity and ingenuity are such an important part of lighting design, the task force wanted to avoid a prescriptive knowledge test or problem-solving examination. "The judging of these questions is not so much, 'Yes, they've got it right,' or, 'No, they've got it wrong,' " Becker says. "It's whether the applicant can demonstrate in sufficient detail and depth that they have met the objectives of each of the domains."

The proposed certification application does bear some similarities to the application for professional membership in the IALD. But while both are based on a portfolio review, the certification application will be assessed against predetermined criteria, making it less objective and more rigorous than an IALD membership application, Becker says.

Digging to the Core

Distilling the core skills of a lighting designer into the seven domains—goals and outcomes, collaboration, ingenuity, synthesis, science, stewardship, and the human experience—was a demanding task, Becker notes, especially because it's an evolving field and there's no one unifying course or program that delivers someone to the lighting industry. Individuals who work for companies or organizations in other areas of lighting, such as government employees, sales representatives, or electrical contractors, may, in theory, be able to apply for the credential if they have a lighting design portfolio, but the eligibility requirements are still being formulated. One proposal, for instance, would require applicants to have been a designer at a senior level for a predefined number of years.

To make the credential both broad and flexible enough to be recognized globally, the task force is ensuring that the questionnaire gathers feedback from lighting designers and organizations around the world. "We don't know exactly how things work in every country of the world," Theobald says. "It may well be that there are things that we haven't yet identified that will come back in the survey."

The domains of practice embody core competencies that are common to architectural lighting designers worldwide. "Most designers that I know work all over the world," Becker says. "What we do is remarkably similar no matter where we come from and no matter where we're practicing." And because they are voluntary, certification programs can be more flexible as they serve multiple international audiences, he adds.

Planning Ahead

Along with the online questionnaire, which asks lighting designers whether the domains are relevant to their field of practice and accurately reflect their work, the task force is concurrently testing a prototype application and scoring-and-assessment model with a trial group, a process that will take place over several months. After the group presents its recommendation to the IALD board of directors in August, the task force's next step will be to develop a business plan that includes a marketing campaign, financial plan, and interim governance structure for the credential. Any costs associated with the application will be determined as part of that process.

While the financial structure is still being determined, Marsha Turner, the IALD's executive vice president, expects that the certification's governing body, not the IALD, would collect the fees, and that the fees would go toward paying for the program's expenses, such as processing applications. The IALD would likely be reimbursed for its staff's administrative time, but at a reduced rate in order to support the program.

If successful, a lighting-design certification could ultimately be a way to help lighting designers become a de rigueur part of architectural construction projects, Theobald says. "It'd be absolutely wonderful if we came out of this and we were at the same stage as architects," he says. "It can only help us in terms of raising awareness of lighting design if we have a formalized profession."

Credentialing for architectural lighting designers has stirred ongoing discussions among industry professionals for the past four decades. In fact, the subject was part of the initial set of agenda issues that the original founders of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) included in their discussions as they worked to establish a professional lighting organization in 1969. Today, the subject is once again the topic of discussion, and the IALD has now developed a more tangible framework for those conversations by presenting an outline of how a formal certification process might work.

While the IALD has considered credentialing several times before, it began a renewed effort two years ago, when the board of directors discussed the topic and learned more from a credentialing expert at a strategic planning meeting. The investigation of a credential was spurred in part by a piece of legislation proposed in 2009, Texas House Bill 2649 (HB 2649), which initially included language that would have restricted the practice of lighting design to architects, engineers, and electricians. (The bill was subsequently passed after the problematic language was removed.) "That was a big wake-up call for us," says Kevin Theobald, current president of the IALD and principal of London-based Kevin Theobald Lighting Design. "As an organization that represents lighting designers, we were concerned that policymakers were making decisions on our behalf because there isn't a validated benchmark for being a practitioner. Our mission is to raise the profile of the profession, so it seemed like a logical thing for us to look at the possibility of organizing an international credential for lighting design."

In 2010, the IALD board launched an international task force to study the feasibility of a certification, under the leadership of lighting designer and IALD member David Becker, director of lighting design firm Point of View in Sydney. "He has a good understanding ... [of the industry's politics] and of the profession globally, and asks the right questions." Theobald says. "He's not someone who would just push things through."

After the initial setup of the task force, which currently includes eight lighting designers, the IALD also invited participation from other lighting-design organizations, including the Professional Lighting Designers' Association (PLDA), the National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions (NCQLP), and, representing lighting manufacturers, the Lighting Industry Resource Council (LIRC). "This isn't just for IALD members," Theobald says. "It's for all professional lighting designers."

After an initial job-task analysis led to a rough model of the certification, the task force gathered feedback and used that guidance to create a more extensive prototype certification model. In March, they launched a webinar series and a questionnaire based heavily on the prototype to gather additional feedback that will be used to further refine the model. The questionnaire, which was set to close on April 27, had received more than 600 responses as of press time. The task force plans to make a recommendation in August to the IALD's board of directors on whether or not to proceed with development of the certification. If approved, implementing a certification might take about 12 to 18 months, Becker says.

Common Cause

Defining the profession through a certification program, created through established certification-industry standards, would reduce the chances of government bodies imposing regulations or restrictions on lighting designers, Becker says. "A profession that has already defined itself through the rigor of a certification process can speak more authoritatively as a unified group."

A credential could also help to elevate and validate the profession. "This is coming from demand both from inside the industry and from [clients]," Becker says. "Good designers are fed up with not having a mark to set them apart, and [clients] want to be able to measure excellence in ability."

A certification could have a number of other benefits for the lighting design profession, says Judith Hale, a certification expert and psychometric consultant to the credentialing task force, and principal of Downers Grove, Ill.–based Hale Associates. Crafting language to define the profession might help government agencies list architectural lighting design as a profession, making it easier for designers to bid on projects. It would also provide curriculum guidance to academic institutions, which would want their programs to be aligned with the industry's certification core competencies.

Lighting designers' support for a certification instrument has recently grown, Becker says, though the idea met with some initial resistance when the task force began its work 18 months ago. He thinks that part of that resistance was rooted in a misunderstanding of what the task force was proposing. Credentialing is an umbrella term that can cover anything from academic degrees to voluntary certification to state-mandated licensure. "I think people thought that a credential automatically meant that it was a license, that you need a license to practice, and therefore people felt that their livelihood might be under threat," Becker says.

The credentialing task force is proposing a voluntary certification, which would allow designers to distinguish themselves in the marketplace, but would not affect entry into the profession. The task force has no intention of pursuing licensure, Becker says. Because licensure restricts employment, it's generally set at minimum standards focusing specifically on safety issues. Certification will be "significantly more meaningful," he says, because it will be based on a higher level of standards.

Certification is also different from membership in an organization. "Professional membership demonstrates that you have a commitment to the profession," Becker says. "A certification demonstrates competency in the field against predetermined criteria." IALD membership would still offer validation to designers who practice independent lighting design—free of influence from manufacturers or supply chains—so a combination of IALD membership and certification to assess competence would be valuable to lighting designers, Becker notes.

While some experienced designers have argued that they don't need a certification because their portfolio speaks for itself, Becker thinks that the lighting design industry must plan for newcomers with smaller portfolios. "It's more difficult for somebody who's emerging, somebody with five years' experience," he says. "At this point in time, somebody who knows nothing about lighting can call themselves a lighting designer in the same way as somebody who's very talented, and there needs to be some way of differentiating."

Prototype Proposal

While the task force still has plenty of work to do in refining the certification and the governance structure, the general outlines are taking shape. The development and administration would be overseen by a governing body, independent from any existing lighting-design association but likely administrated by IALD staff until it becomes financially viable on its own. The body would also include representatives from a range of lighting-related associations.

Unlike the NCQLP's Lighting Certified (LC) certification, the architectural-lighting-design certification would not be based on a test or exam. Designers would submit a portfolio of their work to be judged by subject-matter experts against seven "domains of practice," a set of core competencies that describe architectural lighting design. Applicants would need to demonstrate that they have achieved the objectives of the domains through a written response, as well as through evidence such as submitted exhibits, photographs, working drawings, and models. A panel of reviewers would evaluate the application using a set of criteria based on the domains (the reviewer-selection process is still being determined). The certification would expire after a given time, though the recertification process is still being formulated.

Because creativity and ingenuity are such an important part of lighting design, the task force wanted to avoid a prescriptive knowledge test or problem-solving examination. "The judging of these questions is not so much, 'Yes, they've got it right,' or, 'No, they've got it wrong,' " Becker says. "It's whether the applicant can demonstrate in sufficient detail and depth that they have met the objectives of each of the domains."

The proposed certification application does bear some similarities to the application for professional membership in the IALD. But while both are based on a portfolio review, the certification application will be assessed against predetermined criteria, making it less objective and more rigorous than an IALD membership application, Becker says.

Digging to the Core

Distilling the core skills of a lighting designer into the seven domains—goals and outcomes, collaboration, ingenuity, synthesis, science, stewardship, and the human experience—was a demanding task, Becker notes, especially because it's an evolving field and there's no one unifying course or program that delivers someone to the lighting industry. Individuals who work for companies or organizations in other areas of lighting, such as government employees, sales representatives, or electrical contractors, may, in theory, be able to apply for the credential if they have a lighting design portfolio, but the eligibility requirements are still being formulated. One proposal, for instance, would require applicants to have been a designer at a senior level for a predefined number of years.

To make the credential both broad and flexible enough to be recognized globally, the task force is ensuring that the questionnaire gathers feedback from lighting designers and organizations around the world. "We don't know exactly how things work in every country of the world," Theobald says. "It may well be that there are things that we haven't yet identified that will come back in the survey."

The domains of practice embody core competencies that are common to architectural lighting designers worldwide. "Most designers that I know work all over the world," Becker says. "What we do is remarkably similar no matter where we come from and no matter where we're practicing." And because they are voluntary, certification programs can be more flexible as they serve multiple international audiences, he adds.

Planning Ahead

Along with the online questionnaire, which asks lighting designers whether the domains are relevant to their field of practice and accurately reflect their work, the task force is concurrently testing a prototype application and scoring-and-assessment model with a trial group, a process that will take place over several months. After the group presents its recommendation to the IALD board of directors in August, the task force's next step will be to develop a business plan that includes a marketing campaign, financial plan, and interim governance structure for the credential. Any costs associated with the application will be determined as part of that process.

While the financial structure is still being determined, Marsha Turner, the IALD's executive vice president, expects that the certification's governing body, not the IALD, would collect the fees, and that the fees would go toward paying for the program's expenses, such as processing applications. The IALD would likely be reimbursed for its staff's administrative time, but at a reduced rate in order to support the program.

If successful, a lighting-design certification could ultimately be a way to help lighting designers become a de rigueur part of architectural construction projects, Theobald says. "It'd be absolutely wonderful if we came out of this and we were at the same stage as architects," he says. "It can only help us in terms of raising awareness of lighting design if we have a formalized profession."