Studiotech Swot; Control – The Role it Plays in the World of Dynamic Lighting PART TWO

Last month, we shared with you an insight into the Role of Control by Studiotech Director, Ed Vickery.

An honest insight into the world of control and how we can work together as an industry to to pool our collective ability as lighting designers, integrators and control specialists to deliver true experiences for the user. 

We’ve looked at the whats and the whys, now let’s take a look at the hows… 

In the first instance, we need to be explaining the possibilities of what is now achievable. From control manufacturers, we receive training, presentations, demonstrations and literature as to the capabilities of the control systems we utilise. We then combine this product knowledge with our in-house team of controls experts to determine how these new technologies/products can be utilised to further our controls offering. 

Once we’ve done this, we need to then be passing this information on to the lighting designer to ensure they are fully aware of the potential control strategies for the schemes they are designing. There is no point in us having the ability to deliver these incredible schemes if the designers have not been suitably empowered to design their schemes around the available control technologies.  To assist in this knowledge transfer, we will be conducting our own e:cue training/presentations for lighting designers. Details for this can be found at the bottom of this article.

Another aspect we will be looking to improve upon, will also need to be done in collaboration with the lighting designer. Typically, we get asked to put a cost to a scheme and the last line item of this scheme is ‘programming’ with a rather plucked-out-of-thin-air cost thrown against it. We typically have very little idea what will be required with respect to programming so it’s at this stage that the options to the client should be made clear. Several content package options should be given along with associated costs and associated benefits. The key here is for the designer and integrator to highlight the major benefits of investing in the the content aspect of the schemes. We have to get buy-in at the early stage; we have to begin the scheme knowing that there is sufficient time and funds allocated to this hugely important aspect. It’s such a shame to think what could have been when carrying out a post project review. It’s not to say that this can’t be managed retrospectively but once the project has been completed for a while, the momentum goes as the focus shifts to other projects.

I do feel that there is a growing understanding of what’s achievable and the purpose of this article is certainly not to say what could have been, it’s to say what can be. At Studiotech, we now employ four full time programmers so have the capacity to deliver unique content for our projects. It’s now on us, alongside the designer, to promote the desire within our clients. To show what’s possible and to highlight the benefits of doing so. If we can do this successfully and engender the desire within our clients, it gives increased commercial opportunities and perhaps even more pertinently, the ability to deliver schemes that realise their full potential.

The key to success in this regard is collaboration between the designers and controls experts. With that in mind, head on over to our Contact Us page to book a controls demonstration/training session with one of our programmers.