Lighting Design: A Professional's Guide To Getting It Right

A mistake made far too often is leaving lighting design an afterthought -- not planning for it, or leaving no budget dollars for doing it right.

While it may be relatively simple to add a light fixture to your existing lighting plan using a table lamp, the ideas in your hardwired lighting design will make a huge difference to the way you use a room, as well as how you experience the room.

Get it right, and by nightfall, you have got a house that is both comfy to stay in and practical to use, but get it wrong, and the entire vibe of a space is ruined.

When we say light design, we are talking not only about choosing the right fixtures and fixtures, but also making sure there is a sufficient amount of different types of light to highlight and interact with your space properly. Lighting can also impact your health, so there is an important stake in creating an awesome lighting scheme for your home.

In this guide, we will breakdown the basics of light design, look at lighting wellness and how to use smart lights efficiently, as well as examine if hiring a professional light designer is worth your time.

Creating your own lighting design: Where to begin?

Good lighting design ideas are not only centred around lighting the ceiling. There are actually three major types of lighting used in lighting design -- and it is important to understand and familiarise yourself with the different terms used for each.

In most rooms, it is actually best to think about using combinations of all three types in order to create a multi-level lighting scheme.

• Ambient Lighting: Also called General or Background Lighting, it is lighting that provides general lighting for the room, like the ideas for lighting your ceiling. Sources include large pendant lights, in-recessed drop lights, and in some cases, wall lights.
• Task Lighting: This provides additional, focused light in areas where daily activities are performed, like reading, cooking, and work. Floor, table lamps are good sources of task lighting, as are the lights integrated in cookers and in vanities; however, overhead lights in the ceiling can also be considered as task lights, since they are functional, not ambient.
• Accent or mood lighting: This is used to illuminate objects or architectural features that you want to bring to the fore, such as art, cabinets or sculptures.

To make it easier for your lighting to adjust with the times of the day and moods you are trying to set, it is helpful to fit dimmers, and have your electrician set up the lights on individual switches, so that each type of light can operate independently.

How Much Light Does A Room Need?

While it may sound difficult to figure out how much light your room needs, there is actually a simple calculation you can use. Work out the square footage of your room, and give yourself about 25 Watts per metre (250 Lumens).

Remember, to make this a successful scheme, the light does not need to be coming from one single source, but from the mix and balance of several.

The more light sources you have (that are controlled individually through separate switches or a smart lighting system), the more your room can fit different needs and set different moods. Too much, though, and you find that your lighting plan is overly complex, and that some lights are rendered unnecessary.

Experts agree that, in general, you should aim for at least four light sources in each room, blending different types of lighting described above.

How can I develop my own lighting plan for my home?

Many people design their lighting plans. However, it is critical to start by assessing each room's uses, dimensions, and natural lighting levels. If, after doing so, you are unsure of how to handle this task, a lighting designer, electrician or specialised lighting company may come up with a solution for you.

A good, carefully considered lighting plan allows you to start shopping around early for the types of fixtures that you will need, and is a crucial reference point for your electrician, who will need to know where and what types of fixtures and switches are located.

You should start planning and making arrangements for your lighting plan the same time you are planning the plumbing.

A successful lighting scheme takes account of each of your rooms possible uses--your idea of lighting the kitchen, for instance, would be subject to a much different set of criteria than the ones you would apply to the bedroom.

• What is going to use that space? Consider all the possible uses for each space. Will your kitchen double as a dining room or office area. Will a spare room also double up as a studio?
• Will there be any pieces of furniture that you would like to emphasise? Maybe architectural features like the fireplace, or art pieces you would like to call attention to in one of those rooms. This will dictate the accent lighting.
• Who is going to be using the room? It is interesting to note that people over the age of 60 typically require 15 times the lighting as someone 10 years older.
• What times of the day would you most likely be using your room? For instance, if you use your room for relaxation only at night, it is wise to put your lights on dimmers.
• Where does natural light come into a room, and from which direction? Do not forget lighting is not just needed during nighttime, because during different times of the year, where the light levels are lower, you will need to have some extra artificial lighting throughout the day.

Once you have answered those questions, sketch out a floor plan of your room to help you identify the best spots for your lights.

On the plan, you should label permanent fixtures like windows and doors, alcoves, fireplaces, and other sources of heat, like radiators. Next, mark down the direction that room residents are likely to face the most, for instance, a TV, a table or the cooking range.

Mark where the light switches should be placed in the most convenient locations, emphasising the areas around doorways and the tops and bottoms of staircases. Finally, consider where you are planning to position large pieces of furniture, like beds and couches.

Use the results from the walking round to make notes of where you want each source of light, whether it is pendant lighting, a flanker light, or a downlighter, to go.

Do I need a lighting designer?

Many find the services of a qualified lighting designer to be valuable, though it is also a job that many interior designers are happy to handle as well.

If you are re-arranging a relatively standard home, it is very likely you can come up with an effective lighting scheme without help from a design professional, particularly for a medium-sized room.

However, when creating a larger new addition, it might be worth having a professional help refine your lighting scheme, whereas it might be necessary for an independent construction.

As a proportion of your overall budget, this service can be more affordable than you might think. A lighting designer may cost around £500 to £5,000 depending on the size of your project, and they may come up with all sorts of ideas that you might not have considered, like ideas for lighting stairs and intelligent lighting.

There are many benefits that will come with hiring a lighting designer, including:

• Experience in creating both simple and complex lighting schemes
• Expert product knowledge
• Consideration of light colour, brightness, angle, shape and shadow

The best time to hire a lighting designer can depend on your project. In renovations, you would want a lighting designer to come onboard prior to the wiring, in order to make sure that lights are placed correctly by this time.

In a self-build, a lighting designer might need to be brought on board sooner, as part of a design brief. In many cases, your architect can probably advise someone who has worked with them previously.

What does the colour of the lights mean?

As an example, the temperatures of man-made light can vary between a warm, mild white (2700-3000 K), bright white, or cold (3500-4100 K), and eventually, the colour of the sunlight (5000-6500 K). Each temperature range produces a different effect and may affect our mood.

When talking about cool light versus warm light, remember that softer whites give off a warmer, comforting feel. They are great for bedrooms and living rooms because they are soothing and help us to relax, which is crucial for our mental well-being.

Bright, cool whites are the best for bathrooms and kitchens. They give off a more energetic feel, and they help provide better contrasts between colours.

What are the IP ratings of the lights?

When you are thinking about best lighting ideas for your bathrooms, you will want to get acquainted with IP ratings.

In the electrical safety world, bathrooms are divided into zones. Each zone is based on how close to a source of water the room is, and within each of those zones, any lights that you install must have a specific IP rating in order to make sure that they are safe for use there.

Light fittings will have an IP rating on them to let you know what zone in your bath you are allowed to use them in.

How Many Light Circuits Should I Have?

While it is always wise to talk with a qualified electrician when installing lighting, it really helps to at least have some basic knowledge about how lighting circuits work when coming up with your plans.

This just means they are linear electrical circuits, with cables leaving a consumers unit and running down the line to every light socket (or fixture) before terminating at the end.

Most homes will have at least two individual circuits, one upstairs and one downstairs, but in practise, you are better off having a little bit more than this. At a minimum, you should have your electrician set up your lights in such a way that each type or level of lights can operate individually.

How do I light my lower ceilings?

A sticking point for many is working out how best to light a low ceiling.

According to senior lighting designer at John Cullen Lighting (opens in new tab), Sian Parsons: "Low ceilings can make the space seem smaller and darker, so using light to help heighten the sense of scale is crucial.

"Uplighting is a very efficient way to wash light off the ceiling and back into the room. Consider employing floor recessed or plug-in uplights or open shaded lamps as an alternative to wall lights in low spaces because they can be more difficult to set.

Maintain light-coloured lamp covers to maximise light output, and make sure surfaces reflect light as much as possible (matt white walls are the ideal!). This will increase the overall reflectance of the light sources you employ.

Which building codes apply to lighting design?

The construction codes currently mandate the installation of low-energy lighting in newly constructed homes, mandating that 75% of the lights be "energy efficient."

As a result, light fixtures need to emit a minimum of 400 lumens overall, be over 5 circuit watts, and have an efficacy of at least 45 lumens per watt. Both fixtures under 5 watts and any external lighting are not included in the total count.

This would apply to fluorescent and compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), LEDs, and discharge lamps, but not to low-energy bulbs with bayonet or screw-cap bases.

What options are there for intelligent lighting in homes?

If you're considering how to build a smart house, keep in mind that smart homes require smart lighting, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a difficult or pricey addition.

The best way to manage feature lighting, zonal lighting, and rooms with numerous downlights would be through a home automation system, with connected switches and sockets, managed by a mobile app or with a smart speaker, like Alexa or Google Assistant, according to John Sheerer, founder of Lightwave (opens in new tab).

The cost and simplicity of installation differ amongst systems. Choose one that can be installed using existing wiring and permits control of all lighting sources, including outdoor lighting. The versatility of modular systems allows one to start with one room and later expand to other regions of the house.

Modern internet-connected systems allow for the control of lights via an app or smart assistant in addition to installed smart metre systems. They can be as basic as Wifi-enabled lightbulbs that can be integrated into an existing lighting plan and don't need to be pre-wired into the house.

What effects can lighting have on my health?

 

Ben Channon, the author of Happy by Design, claims that making excellent use of artificial lighting can increase happiness and wellbeing (RIBA Publishing). Poul Henningsen, a Danish professional lighting designer, spent a large portion of his career creating glare-free, homogeneous lighting that has been found to lessen headaches and increase productivity.

Your body's response to light, which results in the release of hormones that either help you go asleep or wake you up in the morning, determines your circadian rhythm, which is essentially your 24-hour body clock. Your circadian rhythm is, of course, based on natural sunshine, and artificial light from your home's lighting and technology might interfere with it.

A biodynamic (or human-centred) lighting design is one that follows the cycles of natural light. These intelligent lighting systems use continuously changing colour light to wind down or energise as needed.