Why Lighting Can Make Or Break An Interior Design
When designing a space, the lighting is not only important, it can even make or break an interior design. Lighting design is more than just about choosing a colour palette, but about how light can affect the visual appeal of the space as well as the way its occupants feel. Light is powerful and can contribute to energy levels, productivity, and even the mental health of the occupants of the space that the light fixtures are illuminating. A professional interior designer knows how to use light to make your space look and feel inspiring which can positively affect your business.
How Lighting Design Affects Aesthetic Appeal
After spending a great deal of time and effort choosing the right materials, furnishings, carpeting, and decor for a space, you don't want your lighting to poorly display these elements. A thoughtfully designed area is more attractive and visually appealing. Strategic placement of light can cause enhancing reflection from targeted surfaces or subtly accent decor elements. The colour characteristics of the light itself can affect the colours of the objects they are illuminating. Warm or cool lighting can make certain colours appear either subdued or more vivid. Lighting design should also take into account the contribution of daylight and how natural light interplays with the interior lighting.
Light affects the way we perceive depth and volume, so a properly lit room can seem more spacious. A professional interior designer understands the importance of light and how to create a seamless integration of elements that results in an attractive whole.
How Lighting Design Affects How People Feel
Not only does light affect how we visually experience a space, but it also affects how we feel. The lighting in your business has an impact on the emotions of your guests, customers, staff, and clients from the moment they enter the room. Not only that, it affects their emotions throughout the entire time they are engaged in the space. Studies have shown that the amount of light that enters the eye affects chemicals in the brain that influence cognition, memory, and the ability to learn and complete tasks. Brighter lights make people feel more energetic and positive.
Because light affects the way we perceive space, a poorly lit room can make people feel cramped or claustrophobic as well as tired and lethargic. Professional interior design includes an understanding of the crucial role light plays on how people experience a space after it is completed.
How Lighting Design Can Affect Your Health
The type of lighting people experience throughout the day not only affects their emotions, but it can also impact their health. Light plays an important role in establishing sleep-wake patterns as well as affecting energy levels. Proper lighting during the day at the office can affect how well people sleep at night, which can impact activity outside of the workplace and the overall quality of life. Poorly designed lighting can also cause headaches, fatigue, eyestrain, as well as contribute to stress and anxiety in a high-pressure work environment.
Not only can lighting impact productivity and energy levels, but it can also affect absenteeism. If the lighting in your space causes people to feel lethargic or uninspired, it takes a lot less for them the call off from work and just stay home. Professional designers have the expertise to create a workspace or room that is inviting, inspiring, and encourages the positive physical and mental health of its occupants.
Space Functionality And Lighting Design
The purpose of a space and what tasks are performed there have a big impact on interior lighting design. A designer would likely light a conference room differently than a waiting room, for example. A designer would light work-spaces that contain computers in a manner that ensures that light doesn't reflect off of the screens/monitors. The lights themselves have a function which a designer would consider. Some spaces require ambient lighting while some need task lighting. Occupants should not even notice the lighting in a well-designed room where the lighting design compliments the functionality of the space.
Lighting Design And Regulations
It may come as a surprise that complex regulations and codes are governing the use of lights in public and professional spaces. The fact that codes and regulations even exist shows just how important lighting is in a design space. Canada's National Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has specific guidelines concerning glare, overhead clearance of fixtures, safe lighting of hallways and stairs, and excessive lighting that can lead to eyestrain and headaches. CCOHS even regulates the placement of light switches to ensure worker safety. Your professional interior designer is knowledgeable about these codes and regulations to ensure that your space is safe and conforms to government specifications.
Lighting is a crucial part of interior design. You need an expert trained and experienced professional interior designer to ensure that the lighting of your space is inviting, pleasing to the eye, functional, and makes your guests, customers, and clients love the space they are in. At 34F Design Inc., you can count on our team of expert design professionals to give exceptional results to corporations, schools, and non-profit organizations. We focus on serving, academic, commercial, institutional and residential clients in Vancouver, throughout BC, and all across Canada. To learn more about how our full-service interior design firm can help you design your space, contact us here.