Live Design Online: Lighting designer Michael Stiller of Michael Stiller Design is slated to present a session at LDI 2024: Breaking Rectangles (Let Your Digital Dreams Flee the Screen), in which he will examine the way a number of award-winning projects have created a true immersivity in environments ranging from indoor experience centers to exterior, city-scaled developments.
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In this interview, Michael Stiller discusses his career as a lighting designer and highlights his participation at LDI 2024 with the session Breaking Rectangles (Let Your Digital Dreams Flee the Screen)His recent projects include interactive spaces, such as Verizon's media-driven lobby in Boston and large-scale architectural lighting for projects like the Al Maran Island resort in the UAE. Stiller emphasizes the importance of staying updated with technology through trade shows, demos, and direct manufacturer relationships.
Stiller’s approach blends digital art with lighting design, emphasizing abstract visual storytelling over literal branding. A passionate educator, he enjoys teaching future designers to collaborate better with lighting professionals, hoping to inspire some to enter the field, and really inspired me. His work relates to design thinking, art, and even media studies, emphasizing the role of technology in creating immersive environments. I learned how valuable professional communities and continuous learning are in building a career in a specialized design field.
I love reading about his use of experimental design. New technology and new new ways to use it is why I love theater technology. Stiller says he likes to work with “lower” resolution technology because he likes using it to enhance his installation. He works with bigger pixels as opposed to tiny ones that allow for higher detail. He’s found ways to get an audience engaged in places they normally wouldn’t. I think that’s huge not only from a lighting standpoint, but also for whatever company you’re working for. People will stop by the Verizon building to play with the lights. They’ll want to read more about it and talk to people about it. He describes himself as a visual artist and I think that's very accurate. Theater design is very much visual arts, and lighting and video and media, albeit unconventional, are definitely valid mediums for visual art. I think their unconventional-ness makes them especially intriguing to interact with. I am probably going to LDI, so I’m very excited to meet and talk with people like Stiller!
This article highlights just how broad the world of lighting design is, which is so important to know and only something I am becoming familiar with myself. People often overlook lighting when thinking about live shows and how important it is in telling the story. They almost always overlook lighting when it comes to buildings and commercial areas. I think it’s so cool that they are striving to combine art and design to lighting and fitting it into new technology. It only brings more people in; this is a new wave of jobs we’re talking about. Lighting is such a huge part of everything, and lighting designers are always needed. To combine more artistic elements to the art of lighting design draws people who maybe aren’t that interested in lighting design to at least show what they do. Overall, I think this is such a cool concept an something I would totally want to try in the future.
This interview with Michael Stiller gives the reader a glimpse into Michael Stiller Design’s examination of the way viewers see lighting and electronic installations in an immersive, variable environment. The Accenture Innovation Center and the Verizon at the Hub on Causeway look somewhat unassuming among other commercial lighting and advertisement efforts at first glance - but beyond the simple facade lies a visual feast. Interactivity in these exhibits is so vital for the fight for attention of consumers, especially these days. I took note of the fact that he uses Vectorworks, a platform I’m interested in. I didn’t know Vectorworks was commonly used for electrical applications, but I suppose it has a pretty useful system for it. Stiller’s interest in teacher seems self-serving, but it does make logical sense. One would definitely want one’s future collaborators to be informed about your side of the shared sphere. I think the point about clear communication about both shared and separate goals cannot be overstated.
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