The Inspired Intermedia digital book collection
Issue link: https://inspired.uberflip.com/i/1542792
111 Designing something truly meaningful requires a genuine sense of connection with the space. Before beginning any design, take a moment to pause and truly feel the environment you are about to illuminate. This awareness helps you understand what deserves to be highlighted, where visual hierarchy should live, how it should be expressed, and how light can bring clarity, depth, and emotion to the space at night. Here are three principles that guide every meaningful lighting design — along with the questions that anchor our decisions in the field. 1. Lighting enables interaction • When you reveal the right elements, people naturally begin to use the space in a more meaningful way. • A gently illuminated path encourages movement. A downlit seating space becomes a place to gather. A highlighted façade gives the home presence and pride. • Your design should guide how people move, pause, and connect within the environment. Tool Box Question: How should people move through and live within this space at night? 2. Lighting shapes perception • Light changes how a space is visually understood. • By controlling all the lighting elements like: brightness, beam spread, temperature, etc. you dictate the visual hierarchy of a space. • A successful design doesn't simply make things visible, it makes the space feel intentional and complete by highlighting space in order of importance. Tool Box Question: What elements should visually anchor and organize this space? (I find writing an ordered list helpful at times) 3. Lighting creates emotion • Every lighting decision influences how the space is felt. • Grazing reveals texture and drama. Soft washes introduce calm and elegance. Narrow beams create tension and focus. • As lighting designers, the emotional experience we create is what sets us apart. • Always choose the feeling first, then let the lighting express it. Toolbox Question: What emotion does this space carry, and how can light reflect it? In the end, remember: You are not creating light. You are revealing what matters. Shedding Light On The Subject A Designer's Toolbox: A Designer's Toolbox: Questions That Shape Great Lighting Questions That Shape Great Lighting By Tarek Kaouk Lumen Landscape Lighting, Charlotte, NC