Professional Lighting Design is a magazine in the niche architectural lighting design market. Headed by editor-in-chief Joachim Ritter, the magazine covers a wide range of subjects in the field including design issues, technological and scientific aspects, and reviews of products used in lighting design. The magazine is principally available in English (two versions, British and American) and German. There are also licensed versions of the magazine in Turkish and Chinese.
The magazine is the official organ of the Gütersloh, Germany based Professional Lighting Designers Association.
The PROFESSIONAL LIGHTING DESIGN is the only magazine worldwide that is dedicated solely to presenting professional architectural lighting. Conceived as the official magazine of the PLDA (Professional Lighting Designers Association), PLD concentrates on the presentation of design philosophies, historical background information, theoretical topics, professional issues and the technical aspects of lighting design and application. PLD is oriented to meet the requirements of the lighting designer. The high quality and competence of PLD is documented by its Advisory Board comprising internationally renowned lighting designers and architects. The magazine is printed in four separate versions: English, German, Chinese and Turkish. The magazine is published in the VIA Verlag, which is based in Gütersloh, Germany. The VIA Verlag was founded together with the Professional Lighting Designers’ Association in 1994.
History The Professional Lighting Design Magazine was first published in March 1998 (zero issue in October 1997). Editor-in-chief is Mr Joachim Ritter. He also founded the VIA Verlag and was a co-founder of PLDA, together with Georges Gerne (France), Johannes Dinnebier (Germany), Erwin Döring (Germany), Francesco Iannone (Italy), Heinrich Kramer (Germany), Alison Ritter (Great Britain), Lucy Rittner (France) and Serena Tellini (Italy) in Frankfurt, Germany.
Contents Published six times a year the magazine offers a new main topic every two months. It consists of short articles (e.g. on light art), two main architectural lighting projects, two to three essays (e.g. on research issues) and a market section, in which the industry can shortly present their new products. The magazine also has a double page or more on PLDA news, profession and education developments.
The magazine has a circulation of 34,500 (all languages) and a steady 3,000 subscribers (including PLDA members).
Where to find PLD The PLD magazine can be found on the biggest lighting fairs, conferences and shows like the “Light+Building” in Frankfurt, the “Euroluce” in Milan, the “Lightfair” in America or the Professional Lighting Design Convention, PLDC, organized by the events division of the VIA Verlag. It is also sold in the sister company of the VIA Verlag, VIA Sweden AB, based in Alingsås, Sweden.
Links www.via-verlag.com www.pldplus.com www.pld-a.org www.pld-c.com