As a special professional discipline the design of lighting is a part of learning program of the department of Environmental Design in Moscow State Stroganov Academy of Design and Applied Arts. The training of designers working with light and lighting equipment requires the special methodize, and the elaboration of such methodize becomes more and more urgent in modern school. We see solution in the combination of traditional art studies and environmental design with modern digital design technologies. All the factors of the lighting content of our environment such as lighting technique and technologies are considered during the learning process. Those branches of professional training are closely connected with the whole design culture and that gives us an opportunity to use a multidisciplinary approach. The study in the lighting design takes one term. That’s enough for the concept of the fragment of urban environment including the elements of the lighting content. The basics of art and the skills of creative thinking also help to achieve a high level of final design and to develop aesthetic skills of students. The new horizons of the lighting design are opened with the new profile of education on our department: a Multimedia Design providing an extensive digital ground for design process. All these means can help us to create a unique ground for the design education, for the contacts between students and possible customers, and also to attract some new, talented tutors.

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This article addresses one of the most actively developing types of design activities – light design. The article comprises quotes of the leading Russian and foreign light design specialists published over the previous five years, as well as the authors’ own conclusions. The thoughts quoted in the article are sometimes opposite to each other and reflect the wide spectrum of professional practice. They reflect the initial opinions of analysts and experts which are often diverging. All of the specialists point at the interdisciplinary nature of the new profession, which imposes additional load on a designer overloaded enough already by the scope and speed of the problems being solved nowadays. The discussion of the new profession of light designer initiated on the pages of professional publications is especially important in view of the development of professional standards and standards of design and architectural education, as well as creation of new educational programmes based on various approaches to the subject in technical and humanitarian institutions. The goal of this article is to introduce light design into the field of fully legitimate sections of design culture, to define the authentic scientific basis of the new creative profession, to initiate a foundation for self-determination of the new synthetic area, which materially affects the state of the profession as a whole and the life standards of a wide variety of consumers. In order to reach the set goal, a comparative and analytical method of study was selected, which allows studying the problem to a large extent and from all angles and finding the ways of overcoming the challenges emerging in the area of the new activity.

Lighting design today is one of the most actively developing types of design project activities. The definition of the profession reflects a wide range of established practice, which implies the presence of various theoretical positions. However, all experts without exception note the multi-level structure of the new profession, its pronounced interdisciplinary nature, which presents an additional burden for the designer. The scope of creative, engineering and social tasks, as well as IT technologies related to lighting design, reflects the nature of a complicated stage in the formation and development of the profession. The purpose of this publication is to acquaint the professional audience with the complex nature of light design, to identify a number of disciplines that make up its basis. This will allow to outline the ways of formation of new kinds and genres of lighting design, to identify its main priorities. The task of the designer is to choose a direction of activity at various levels: functional, applied, or easel direction; adhere to traditional urban light, work in the genre of multimedia light show, author’s light sculpture, etc. The multidisciplinary nature of the profession is united methodically by the scientific platform of creative activity. The design and artistic component becomes a priority in the hierarchy of innovative professional synthesis of that particular direction. Thus, lighting design is included in the sphere of project creativity, including the scientific and technical base of the new profession. The innovative potential of that activity has a significant impact on the process of its development, on the creation of a product and - as a result - on the quality of life of a wide range of consumers. In the work on the material, an analytical method of art history research was chosen. This allowed us to describe the emerging multidisciplinary problems of lighting design in a fairly broad and comprehensive manner and to outline ways to solve its current problems. The vocational education system is called upon to play a special role in this process.

The article considers the potential of computer graphic modeling based on the experience of distance learning in design and art disciplines at the Department of Environmental design of the Stroganov Academy. An analysis of both practical and theoretical work of the Department during the semester made it possible to conclude that the model for the integration of full-time and distance learning, the individual and interactive approaches to the student is optimal for schools of creative arts. The experiment revealed the greatest flexibility and adaptability to the online format of the methodological material of the disciplines of graphic tools, its maximum openness to self-study, its role in innovative forms of design work, of the creative search for student’s own learning style.