IALD Measures Impact of COVID-19 on the Lighting Design Profession By JACOB WRIGHT
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n October, the IALD released an article detailing the results of a survey they had issued to lighting design firms. The purpose of the survey was to see how COVID-19 impacted the lighting design industry and their businesses. The results were somewhat expected, with activity declining and projects slowing down. This is not the only takeaway, though, as the survey was much more detailed and provided a look into industryspecific impacts to a level the industry has not seen before. Below are some of the graphs and findings of the survey.
from the industry, primarily the current discussion surrounding UV-C implementation and the use of lighting as a disinfectant. These measures are naturally focused on essential sectors, such as government and health, to combat the pandemic. It is encouraging to see positive developments in the sea of bad news that comes with a pandemic.
Sectors that involved public interaction or outings were the most heavily hit by the pandemic as one might expect (see FIGURE 1). Interestingly, not every sector was negatively impacted, as the government, health, and residential sectors increased by a significant degree. These findings support the current news cycle we’ve heard
have been able to get back to working on projects at a faster rate in October than in the early days of the pandemic (in this case, the month of May). More projects are moving ahead slowly, and less projects have slowed or stopped in October than in May. There has been a substantial level of adaption throughout all industries when it comes to finding ways to safely
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— designing lighting
Additionally, the IALD assessed project progress and the ability for designers to conduct business (see FIGURE 2). The results indicate that designers