Membership Qualifications
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LIGHTING DESIGNERS
MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA & GUIDELINES DOCUMENT
Click here to download the printable PDF
The Vision To set the global standard for lighting design excellence.
The Mission To serve its worldwide members by promoting excellence in the practice of lighting design.
GENERAL
The IALD was formed to bring together independent practicing professionals in the field of lighting design, and to communicate the benefits of designed lighting to allied professionals and the public at large.
Lighting Design is a consultant profession dealing with factors bearing on the creation of a visual environment. In the process of his/her work, the consultant first develops a design concept and then translates it into physical terms. The established IALD independent lighting designer devotes the majority of his/her professional time to the design of architectural lighting while subscribing to the Vision and Mission statements and the Code of Ethics and Professional Standards.
A. QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP
1. Members in all grades shall subscribe to the ideals, goals, Vision Statement and Mission Statement of the Corporation.
2. Voting members shall subscribe to the ideals, goals, Vision Statement, Mission Statement and shall subscribe to the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Voting members, as part of submission for membership and as part of yearly payment of dues for membership, shall be a signatory to a written agreement to abide by the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.
B. VOTING MEMBERS
1. Only the following grades of VOTING MEMBERS shall have the exclusive right to vote on all matters pertaining to the affairs of the Corporation.
a. Professional
b. Fellow
c. Associate
d. Retired
C. PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS
1. A Professional member shall devote the majority of his/her professional time to the design of architectural lighting. Candidates for Professional membership shall have, at the time his/her application is submitted, at least four (4) years of experience in the field of architecture lighting design at the job of senior designer or above in an independent consulting practice. The process for application for professional membership is outlined in the Professional Membership Application Procedures attached to the end of these Guidelines.
2. The Membership Committee may, by unanimous vote of all Committee members, invite applications for professional membership from senior lighting designers with twenty or more years of experience whose body of work is well known and highly respected or who have won multiple Lighting Design Awards. For these applicants, the committee will waive the requirements for the submission of references, resume, project list, and the portfolio of work.
D. FELLOWS
1. A candidate for Fellow membership shall be a Professional member of the IALD and an outstanding member of the profession. Candidates for Fellow membership shall be nominated by two voting members, one of whom must be a fellow of the IALD, and elected by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds (2/3) of the Fellows participating in the election of new Fellows, provided a quorum is met, and two-thirds of the Board of Directors to this category. The process is outlined in the Fellows Nominations and Selection Process attached to the end of these Guidelines.
E. ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP
1. The Membership Committee shall be guided by the following criteria to apply to all Associate members:
a. An Associate member shall devote the majority of his/her professional time to the successful design of architectural lighting.
2. Candidates for Associate membership must complete an application and include the following materials. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
a. A resume including professional experience/employment history and educational background
b. A recent project list indicating projects on which you served as an active designer
c. A brief profile of your company/employer
d. Two (2) business/work reference who are not related to you and not your current employer. If possible, please include at least one IALD member.
F. RETIRED
1. A Retired member shall be a Voting Professional, Fellow or Associate who is retired from the active practice of lighting design.
2. A Retired member shall abide by the Code of Ethics and Professional Standards, Vision Statement and Mission of the Corporation.
3. Dues shall be reduced for Retired members and set by the Board of Directors when other dues are established.
G. NON VOTING MEMBERS
1. The following grades of membership shall be NON-VOTING MEMBERS of the Corporation and shall have no rights to vote on matters pertaining to the affairs of the Corporation.
a. Affiliate
b. Educator
c. Student
d. Honorary
H. AFFILIATE MEMBERSHIP
1. Affiliate membership shall be open to the following individuals:
a. Practicing Affiliates: A practicing professional in a related field, including architecture, interior design, electrical engineering, or professional lighting designers whose practice includes event, television or theatrical lighting. All practicing affiliate members shall abide by the IALD Mission Statement, Vision and The Guidelines for Specification Integrity.
b. Press Affiliates: An individual who is a member in good standing of the staff of or a freelance consultant for a publication that is devoted to reporting or photographing items of interest in the field of architectural lighting design.
c. Commercial Affiliate: An individual whose primary duties involve the practice of lighting design or applications engineering and who is employed by a company which manufacturers, represents manufacturers or distributes lighting or lighting control control equipment. All commercial affiliate members shall abide by the IALD Mission and Vision Statements and The Guidelines for Specification Integrity. Commercial Affiliates shall reapply for membership every two years.
Commentary: The IALD recognizes that globally there are individuals employed by manufacturers, agents or distributors who are engaged in activities similar to those in independent lighting practice. The intention of the Commercial Affiliate membership category is to include these individuals and encourage the growth of independent lighting design in emerging markets. This category shall not be interpreted to include membership for individuals whose primary duties involve the manufacture, sale or installation of lighting or lighting control equipment.
I. EDUCATOR MEMBERSHIP
1. Educator membership shall be open to an educator who devotes the majority of his or her professional time to the teaching of lighting and/or related subjects.
J. STUDENT MEMBERSHIP
1. Student membership shall be open to a student in good standing of an accredited institution such as a technical school, design school, college, or university, with studies concentrated in lighting design or related fields.
2. Student membership is also open to all interns working in the field of lighting design.
K. HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
1. Honorary membership is open to persons not necessarily in the profession of architectural lighting design, but whose significant contribution to the Corporation or Profession warrants such election. A candidate for Honorary membership shall be nominated by at least three (3) voting members of the Corporation and elected by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Board of Directors.
L. USE OF CORPORATE NAME OR INITIALS
All members shall use the following specific guidelines in identifying themselves as members of the IALD according to their membership grade.
FELLOW
<Fellow Name>, FIALD or Fellow of the International Association of Lighting Designers
PROFESSIONAL
<Professional Member Name>, IALD or Professional Member of the International Association of Lighting Designers
ASSOCIATE
<Associate Member Name>, Associate IALD or Associate Member of the International Association of Lighting Designers
PRACTICING AFFILIATE
<Practicing Affiliate Name>, Practicing Affiliate Member of the IALD or Practicing Affiliate Member of the International Association of Lighting Designers
COMMERCIAL AFFILIATE
<Commercial Affiliate Name>, Commercial Affiliate Member of the IALD or Commercial Affiliate Member of the International Association of Lighting Designers
EDUCATOR
<Educator Name>, Educator Member of the IALD or Educator Member of the International Association of Lighting Designers
STUDENT
<Student Name>, Student Member of the IALD or Student Member of the International Association of Lighting Designers
IALD FELLOW CRITERIA
A candidate for Fellow membership shall be a Professional member of the IALD and an outstanding member of the profession. Candidates for Fellow membership shall be nominated by two voting members, one of whom must be a Fellow of the IALD, and elected by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds (2/3) of the Fellows participating in the election of new Fellows, provided a quorum is met, and two-thirds (2/3) of the Board of Directors to this category.
PURPOSE:
To provide a means of honoring and recognizing IALD members who have made outstanding contributions to and had significant accomplishments in the field of lighting design, architectural and interior design professions, as well as to the IALD Association.
QUALIFICATIONS:
The IALD Fellow designation shall be awarded to a member of IALD for valuable contribution to the art and science of lighting design and for their continued service to IALD. A candidate for Fellow shall not serve on the Board of Directors of the IALD at the time of the nomination.
The member shall have the following qualifications:
1 Be a professional member of IALD for a minimum number of ten (10) years.
2 Be a member in good standing with the organization.
3 Have made a valuable contribution to the profession of lighting design including, but not limited to:
Contributions to the IALD
Achievements in the field of lighting design (body of work)
Published works
Awards
Research
Service to the profession in the field of education
Advancement of public awareness of the profession
Service to the community at large
PROCEDURE:
1. The call for Nominations for Fellows shall be announced on July 1.
2. The nominators shall have genuine familiarity with the nominated member and the members work. Before nominating a candidate, it is incumbent upon the nominating Fellow(s) to become familiar with the work and person of the candidate.
3. If a member is nominated by at least two voting members, at least one of whom shall be a Fellow of the IALD, the Executive Vice President shall contact the nominators to begin the formal nomination process. Nomination forms shall be mailed to the nominators.
4. The nominators shall work together to provide all the information required for the Nomination Forms. Nomination forms and all required documentation shall be completed by August 15 and submitted to the Executive Vice President. All information shall remain confidential.
5. The work of compiling the application shall be done by the nominators. Nominees may be consulted for background information.
6. If the nomination form is not completed in full by the deadline date, the nominee shall not be considered in that year. If the candidate is to be reconsidered in a subsequent year, the candidate must be re-nominated. Nominations shall not be carried over.
7. The Membership Committee, based on the materials submitted, shall evaluate the nomination forms for compliance with criteria.
8. If the nominee meets all the qualifications, the application form, ballot, and a Fellow criteria review form shall be forwarded to the current Fellows four weeks prior to the scheduled voting deadline.
9. Current Fellows shall review and evaluate all nominees based on the material submitted and score each candidate on the Fellow Criteria Review Form.
10. Prior to the voting deadline, all Fellows shall be invited to participate on a conference call. The conference call shall include only Fellows and IALD legal counsel and be without staff presence.
11. After the conference call, the Fellows will submit their secret ballots to legal counsel either by mail or fax by a set date. A minimum of seven Fellows voting constitutes a quorum.
12. Candidates shall be approved by at least two-thirds of those Fellows participating in the voting process. Only candidates receiving such approval shall be presented to the Board of Directors.
13. The Chair of the College of Fellows will inform the nominators of any candidates that are not approved by the College of Fellows. If a candidate is not approved by the Fellows, a nominator of the candidate may request an explanation from the Chair of the College of Fellows.
14. The Chair of the College of Fellows, if he or she chooses to do so, or the Director of Membership shall present recommended candidates, along with all relevant information, to the Board of Directors. Those nominees presented must be confirmed by a two-thirds vote of the Board of Directors.
15. If approved by the Board of Directors the nominee shall be inducted and honored at the next annual IALD meeting or other such IALD affair befitting the honor.
16. If the Board of Directors does not approve a candidate for Fellow that has been approved by the College of Fellows, a written explanation shall be sent to the Fellows and the nominators of the candidate, summarizing the reasons for the decision. These letters shall be sent by the President of the Association.
17. Dues shall be waived for Fellows.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION PROCEDURES
APPLICATION
Candidates for Professional membership must complete an application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please provide the following materials and information:
1 $20.00 Application fee paid in US dollars by Visa, MasterCard or check drawn on US bank
2 A resume including professional experience/employment history and educational background
3 A recent project list indicating projects on which you served as an active senior designer
4 A brief profile of your company/employer
5 Two professional references who are not related to you and not your current employer. If possible, please include at least one IALD Professional member
6 Four (4) completed architectural lighting projects in which the applicant had an active senior role. The projects should show a diversity of design situations or depth in one area.
7 Descriptions of each of these projects must contain the following information:
Name of project
Name of client
Name of architectural or design firm
Project design team
A description of applicants role in each project
1 A minimum of four (4) electronic images for each project. See digital image submission criteria below for details.
2 A description of the project keyed to the images. The text must be in English. In the description, please address the following:
The lighting design goals for each space shown in the images.
Describe any constraints – physical, budgetary, functional, scheduling, etc.
Describe any light sources used.
Describe the control system – dimming, selective switching, etc.
Describe if day lighting is part of the design and/or images and how it is incorporated in the overall project design.
3 The submitted projects will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
Complexity of project – degree of difficulty of the project.
Concept - overall success of the lighting design concept.
Harmony - successful design integration with architecture/environment.
Inventiveness - originality and uniqueness of design approach.
Appropriateness - choices related to the quality of light in the environment and selection of elements for illumination.
Realization - overall success of lighting design related to fixture/lamp selections, visual task requirements, maintainability, or budget and energy constraints, if any.
DIGITAL IMAGE SUBMISSIONS
1. Digital images must be submitted in the following manner:
2. For PRESENTATION, images should be resized in a photo-editing program to a minimum height of 768 pixels or a minimum width of 1024 pixels. (This is the same as a 300 dpi image 2.56 inches tall or 3.41inches wide). This should be saved as a TIFF (.TIF) or JPEG (.JPG) image at the highest possible image quality. Each image should then be inserted into a PowerPoint presentation with one image per slide, with the image expanded to occupy as much of the slide as possible.
3. Photo editing is a tempting way to "clean up" photos and the digital format makes this possible. Please be advised that judges will be instructed in basic photo editing techniques and photographs that show evidence of any meaningful photo editing will be disqualified.
4. The PowerPoint file may include descriptive text, but no identifying text such as designers name or company should be shown in the master or individual slides. Submissions with identifying names or logos will be returned without review.
5. The PowerPoint presentation should be in order of the text description and limited to only those slides that pertain to the submission. Please do not submit standard marketing presentations.
6. Applicants are encouraged to download the PowerPoint template from the IALD website.
7. Images, keyed description and all other documents should be submitted on CD-ROM. Please submit 5 copies of the CD. Do not email.
8. It is advisable, but not mandatory, to provide a hard copy printout to verify color images since color calibration of the Membership Committee's monitors may vary.
9. As an alternate to PowerPoint, individual tiff images may be submitted. All images must be named with respect to the project and numbered to correspond to the keyed written description (i.e.cityctr001.tif, cityctr002.tif, etc.)
10. Digital images do not need to be professionally photographed, but should be of sufficient quality to illustrate your work. All photographs will be used by the Membership Committee only for purposes of membership review. In photographing your projects please avoid the use of fill light or, if that is not possible, clearly identify images that include fill light or daylight. Please clearly identify images that have been retouched or digitally enhanced. The images will be returned and will not be duplicated.
11. IALD Award-winning projects do not have to be resubmitted, but can be referred to in the application by project. Please indicate the name of the award winning project and the year of the award.
| 
