ABSTRACT
The profession of architectural lighting design in some ways is actually quite young and at one point, almost anyone who could print up a business card could call themselves a lighting designer. This resulted in a number of poorly executed projects being designed by people who were only marginally qualified to design architectural lighting projects. In the late 1990s the industry chose to self-regulate and turned to a voluntary certification program that emphasizes continuous education and evaluates individuals in order to demonstrate that they have reached a particular level of competency in lighting. The organization that manages this certification program is the National Council for Qualifications for the Lighting Profession (NCQLP) and upon successfully completing a qualifying exam, an individual may display the LC (Lighting Certified) credential after their name. Even more importantly, the certification is good for only three years and professionals who want to remain certified must either retake the exam or complete a series of educational activities that will earn 36 Learning Education Units (LEUs) over each three-year certification period. Both requirements help ensure that anyone displaying the LC credential remains both active and abreast of developments in the lighting industry. While the NCQLP program certifies that a person has a high level of knowledge about lighting, it doesn’t ensure that person is a competent lighting designer. A second organization, the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), is an organization for lighting designers in which one qualifies as a member based on a minimal amount of experience and level of competence as evidenced by a design portfolio. A second certification program was introduced in 2015 by the IALD that is aimed even more specifically at lead architectural lighting designers. This is the Certified Lighting Designer (CLD) credential, which focuses primarily on lighting design.
