Aug 18, 2016

LD+A Magazine

Readership & Content: By contributing to LD+A, you are helping IES disseminate information on design and technical innovations to approximately 10,000 lighting designers, interior designers, architects, engineers, electrical contractors, facility managers, consultants and others associated with the lighting profession. Topics covered include energy management, retail lighting, office lighting, roadway lighting, sports and recreational lighting, and industrial lighting. In addition, industry overviews, management information, professional development articles and member profiles are included in the pages of LD+A.

Style Tips: LD+A readers practice in many specialties and sub-specialties, so not all readers will be experts on your topic. As a result, please keep in mind the following:

  1. Prospective contributors must submit a brief article abstract or bullet-point outline to Editor/Publisher Paul Tarricone at [email protected].
  2. Assume the reader has a general lighting design/engineering background but is not experienced in your field. For example, a reader who specializes in roadway design should easily understand an article on the design strategy used for lighting an office. Use simple, clear language and include definitions of terms or abbreviations specific to your field.
  3. Outline your main points. Do they follow in a logical order? Keep similar topics together in the text.
  4. Write the article in plain English. Avoid jargon and stress nouns and active verbs. Avoid passive voice when possible: Use “The engineers decided” rather than “It was decided,” for example.


The Type of Articles We Accept:
LD+A’s and the Society’s mission is to enhance and improve the practice of lighting. Generally speaking, we accept two types of articles from outside contributors:

  1. Essays. These articles are essentially opinion pieces that take a position on an important topic in the profession.
  2. Overview/How-to/Technique Articles. These articles describe design approaches in a general sense (e.g., an overview of daylighting techniques; the use of lighting controls in educational facilities).


Author-Editor Teamwork:
The first step in our process is to submit an abstract or bullet-point outline detailing the key points of your article. Upon acceptance, your submission will be assigned to an LD+A editor. The editor will make changes for style, readability and length, and will ask questions to clarify certain points. Keep in mind that an article scheduled for one month may be held over for another issue due to space considerations.

Manuscript Checklist:

  1. Word Count: 1,200 to 1,500 words. The total word count should fall into this range regardless of whether your submission consists of just one article or an article plus one or more “sidebars” or shorter articles, which focus on one particular aspect of the text in detail.
  2. Author Bio and Headshot.
  3. Artwork: Please supply “headshots” of the key designers, hi-res project photography, as well as charts, graphs, diagrams, project timelines, etc. that can help illustrate the article. Artwork can be sent electronically as tif, eps or jpeg files (300 dpi at 8 in. x 10 in.). Please be sure to identify images to facilitate the writing of captions that appear with the article. If you are supplying professional photography, please indicate that you have permission to use the photography.