Light Design: From Practice to Education

Nowadays, light design is not just a purely technical and functionally limited applied sphere but a sphere of active creative activity. Light engineering gradually moves rowards light design. This transformation has not just provided the latter with unlimited potential of design and art tools but has also provided it with a wide range of its capabilities, which makes it difficult for light design to self-identify to a certain extent. The processes provided light engineering with a variety of creative methods have dissolved the boundaries of the new profession still looking for self-identification. The contemporary trends in practical light design have allowed to identify the development direction more clearly, which allows us to enhance the education methodology. The conducted comparative analysis of the works by the leaders of international practice and professional education in the sphere of light design has identified a number of common trends, which allowed to set out the main methods of specialist training. A robust relationship between light design and theatre lighting and the use of the scenario-based principle of light modelling as well as the innovative experimental school laboratories equipped at the highest technical level and creative architectural and lighting design are becoming a most important component of future light designers training. The experience of training design is not only closely related to theory and methodology of technical aesthetic but also serves as a direct reflection of current design realia including artistic, media and information and engineering aspects.