Design Friday: Lighting

Okay, back to the elements and principles of design. Today is the element of Lighting. Lighting encompasses both natural and artificial light (or a combination of both), and serves four functions: visual activity, enhance room decor, mood, and safety.

Lighting is perhaps one of the most important elements of design, because of its ability to affect the appearance of all other elements (such as color, texture, and space) and can minimize architectural flaws. Good lighting can really make a room sing, but is usually not very high on most people's priority list. In fact, in movie production, lighting is often the first thing to go in budget cutbacks.
Until we can afford a lighting designer to customize our home, here are the four lighting zones to keep in mind that each room should have to improve it's functionality and atmosphere:

• Ambient- For overall lighting. It's also nice to have the ability to lower light levels to affect mood (think dimmer switch).
• Task- Lighting focused on designated work spaces to improve productivity (such as a desk lamp).
• Accent- For enhancing architecture, bookcases, etc.
• Wall- To enhance artwork

If this is a subject your want more information about, I recommend you check out, "The Art of Illumination" by Glenn M. Johnson. He is a professional lighting designer, and in the book he discusses lighting techniques for each room.