Growing the Next Generation of Lighting Designers

The lighting industry has spent years talking about talent—where to find it, how to develop it and, increasingly, how to convince young people that lighting design is even a career option. Jill Cody is trying to turn that conversation into action.

At ArchLIGHT Summit, I sat down with Jill Cody, IALD, CLD, LC, LEED-AP, of Dark Light Design.  Jill is a longtime lighting industry professional deeply involved with the IALD Education Trust, to discuss one of the profession’s most persistent challenges: bringing new people into lighting design. Jill’s message was straightforward. Before the industry can recruit the next generation, students first have to know the profession exists.

For many practicing lighting designers, that may sound obvious. Yet Jill pointed out that countless people currently working in lighting stumbled into the profession almost by accident.

“Most people I talk to had no idea lighting design was a job.”

That realization has helped shape Jill’s work with the IALD Education Trust and its efforts to expose students to lighting much earlier.

Discovering Lighting by Accident

Lighting design remains unusual because relatively few people grow up planning to become lighting designers. Architects know they want to study architecture. Engineers often discover engineering in high school. Interior design has become a recognizable career path.

Lighting is different.

Many designers first encounter the profession while studying architecture, theater, interior design or engineering. Others discover it after entering the workforce. Jill believes that needs to change if the industry expects to build a larger and more diverse talent pipeline.

The opportunity became particularly clear during a recent student outreach effort. Jill described speaking with approximately 40 students about lighting design. When the presentation ended, four students raised their hands to express interest in learning more.

Four out of 40 may not initially sound dramatic. Jill saw it differently. Those were four students who might never have considered lighting without that introduction.

It is a simple example, but an important one. If similar presentations took place at universities, architecture programs and design schools across the country, the effect could multiply quickly.

Building the Education Pipeline

The IALD Education Trust has traditionally supported lighting education through scholarships, grants and academic programs. Jill sees another important role: creating awareness.

That requires resources, which makes fundraising an important part of the Trust’s work. But fundraising is not the ultimate objective. The money allows the organization to introduce students to lighting, support educators and give young designers opportunities to experience the profession.

The larger challenge is getting beyond the students who have already discovered lighting.

There are excellent university programs teaching architectural lighting, but the profession cannot depend exclusively on students who happen to enroll in those programs. Jill argues that the industry has to reach architecture students, interior designers, engineers and others who may possess the right creative and technical skills but have never encountered lighting design as a career.

Lighting 101

One initiative Jill discussed is a concept she describes as Lighting 101—a concise and accessible introduction to the profession.

The idea is not to turn a student into a lighting designer during a single presentation. Instead, it is to create curiosity.

What does a lighting designer actually do? How does light influence architecture? How can lighting affect the way people experience a restaurant, hotel, workplace or public space? What combination of creativity, technology and science goes into a successful project?

Those questions can transform lighting from something students simply take for granted into a profession they might want to explore.

Jill believes the industry also needs better tools that educators and professionals can take directly into classrooms. The presentation has to be visual, understandable and, most importantly, exciting.

“We have to make lighting inspirational and aspirational.”

That word—aspirational—may be one of the most important in the entire conversation.

Recruiting students cannot simply be about telling them the lighting industry needs employees. Young people need to see the profession as something worth pursuing. They need to see beautiful projects, understand the creative opportunities and recognize that lighting can combine design, architecture, technology, sustainability and human experience.

Showing Students What Lighting Can Be

Lighting has an advantage that many technical professions do not: its work can be extraordinarily visual.

A student may not immediately understand photometrics, controls protocols or fixture specifications. But they can understand what happens when a beautifully illuminated building appears on a screen.

That visual connection can become the doorway into deeper conversations about design.

It also gives practicing professionals an opportunity to participate. Lighting designers, manufacturers, representatives and educators can visit schools and explain what they do. Instead of waiting for students to discover lighting, the industry can take lighting to the students.

That approach could be particularly valuable in architecture and interior design programs, where students already have an interest in the built environment.

An Industry-Wide Challenge

The shortage of emerging talent is not exclusively an IALD problem, nor is it something any single organization can solve.

Manufacturers need young engineers and product designers. Lighting design firms need designers. Representatives need salespeople and technical experts. Distributors need lighting specialists. The entire ecosystem depends on attracting people who currently may know nothing about the industry.

Jill sees collaboration as essential.

Organizations already funding scholarships and education can work alongside manufacturers, design firms, universities and industry associations. Instead of duplicating efforts, they can build programs that introduce larger numbers of students to lighting.

The objective is not simply to fill today’s openings. It is to create a sustainable pipeline for the next generation.

“We’ve got to get more people into lighting.”

Creating the Moment of Discovery

Perhaps the most compelling part of my conversation with Jill was how uncomplicated the fundamental idea really is.

Before someone can choose lighting design, someone has to show them that lighting design exists.

For Jill, that may mean standing in front of 40 students and discovering that four want to know more. The numbers do not have to be enormous. Every presentation creates another opportunity for a student to see a profession they did not know was available to them.

The lighting industry has spent decades building better sources, better controls and better design tools. The next challenge may be building something even more fundamental: a stronger pathway into the profession.

And that pathway begins with a simple introduction.

Watch the entire video here.