Discover the Benefits and Secrets of Today’s Breathtaking Illumination

In today’s world of enhanced home aesthetics and smart functionality, asking, “Do I need lighting design?” is a little like asking if your home needs plumbing and insulation. Today, it’s defined as a core feature, one that homes can’t do without. 

Why? Isn’t light simply an element that lets us see in the dark and maintain a 24/7 lifestyle?

At one point, the answer to that question would have been a resounding yes, particularly if you asked about it in the 19th century. As technology advanced, it became one of the primary design elements. As the famous designer Ingo Maurer said, “Lighting is not just about illumination; it’s about how we feel in a space.” 

Lighting sets the mood and affects our very being. Natural lighting can even enhance the health of those it touches. Here, we’ll explore the nature of lighting design and why more people than ever are embracing its beauty and well-being. 

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Lighting: Design vs. Standard

Standard lighting plans are designed to meet minimum code requirements and usually include basic fixtures placed uniformly around a house. These lights represent the same lighting found about a century ago—generic, functional, and not very much fun. In many cases, they’re also unflattering to your furnishings, family, and friends.

Does your light show you and your home in its best light? If it resembles white spotlights beaming down like the noonday sun, probably not. If it resembles the warmth of the setting sun or the soft glow of a fire, it often casts you and those around you in their best light.  

The angle, color, intensity, and quality of light profoundly impact how we perceive a space and the mood it elicits. 

In other words, if your lighting merely helps you perform basic tasks and lets you see where you’re going, you could do much better. In fact, even with a modest amount of lighting design, you can make a 500% improvement.  

Where to Start with Lighting Design

Today’s lighting design takes advantage of the remarkable technology that’s reshaped how we perceive our homes and ourselves. To really take advantage of advanced LED illumination, however, requires integrating the system early, preferably in the design and build phase. Once your home is built, you are limited in what you can do without extensive renovations.

How do you know when a home has had a lighting designer’s touch? You can feel it. Its subtle warmth feels relaxing. It’s eye-catching illumination—inviting. You find yourself taking it all in, like a painting slowly revealing its finer details. 

Setting the Mood

If we were Stepford wives, living in a one-dimensional home with lighting reflected in one hue, intensity, and color would be just another day in our robotic world. But we, as humans, change. We burn with passion, smile with anticipation, and feel a tightness in our chest when sadness approaches. 

What if lighting could reflect those ever-changing emotions? Better yet, what if it could pull us up from the doldrums and help us relax when tensions overtook us? 

Growing research suggests that it can. Warm lighting in the range of soft amber or golden yellow is associated with a sense of relaxation and a feeling of peace. Bright white-blue hues bring focused attention and enhanced energy.  

Today’s advanced full-spectrum LED lighting systems give you access to over 16 million colors, enough to adjust your lighting for every possible human emotion. At Ratio AV, our lighting designers adjust every light in your home to the ideal color and intensity and then save these settings in scenes. Whether relaxing, exercising, entertaining, or lying by the pool, the lights around you transform for the occasion. 

Redefining the Possibilities

Integrating the latest fixtures and lighting technologies creates a sense of intrigue. From in-cove and undercabinet lighting that fills a space with ambient light from an unseen source to architectural pendant lights worthy of an artist’s gallery, today’s options offer the ideal solution no matter your home’s design. 

As with interior design, the essentials in lighting design could fill a book or two. Suffice it to say it makes the difference between mediocre and astonishing. Check out Ratio AV’s latest residential projects to get inspired by light.