How to use Lighting to Create Emphasis in Interior Design
Want to create spaces like an interior design pro? This article gives you one of the best tricks of the trade: emphasis. When it comes to interior design, emphasis is the deliberate creation of focal points to draw the viewer’s eye and establish a visual hierarchy within a space. And one of the best ways to create emphasis is with the right lighting.
Emphasis can be used to set a mood of dynamic energy or relaxed calm, shape a sense of drama, highlight certain details, give balance to a room, and inject it with personality.
Arrange lighting to guide the viewer’s eye
Creating visual hierarchies with light is simple, with a bit of planning and forethought as well as a sense of the overall effect you want to create in a room.
A foundational principle is to use brighter lights to create points of focus, with gradual dimming toward the edges of a room. Not only does this draw the viewer’s attention where you want it, but it also gives a sense of drama to the space.
From there, you can use a series of lights to create a visual pathway into a space, leading to the desired focal point. You can align lights with architectural lines within larger spaces and along corridors. Or you can use clusters of small lights to create a hotspot effect, drawing the viewer’s attention.
Highlight focal points effectively with light
When you think of emphasizing a design detail with light, the first thing that probably comes to mind is a spotlight: a tried and true technique that is as relevant today as ever (and easy to implement). If you have a particular artwork, sculpture, or architectural feature that you want to highlight, spotlights are your friend.
But there are many other lighting techniques that you can employ. Track lighting is also a powerful way to draw attention to specific parts of a room, with its ability to be adjusted to point at a particular feature. Backlighting is another reliable technique, where a light source is installed behind an object or translucent glass to make an object appear as though it is glowing.
Use layers and spacing to create emphasis
Layering of light is one of the most important effects you can create, and is simply achieved by positioning lights at varying heights to create a layering effect. The three layers of lighting are ambient, task, and accent: use them collaboratively with each other and along with other design elements to ensure a harmonious and beautiful atmosphere.
Spacing is also a key element: ensure even spacing between the fields of light cast by your fixtures to avoid patchy shadows, building a wash of brightness that draws attention to the elements you want to highlight, rather than to the light itself. Adjustable fixtures also help with this, allowing you to flex the light to the areas you want to focus upon. Also, use angled lights carefully and thoughtfully to avoid unsightly glare and enhance texture on wallcoverings, artifacts, and artwork.
Pro tips for balancing light
Looking for next-level strategies for creating an overall effect of lighting in a room while drawing attention to points of interest? Start with a base of softer ambient lighting in the space, integrating both natural light and artificial sources to give a balanced daylight effect during the daylight hours, with optional dimmers in use to maintain the effect after dusk.
Next, adjust light intensity based on your room color and decor – for darker, more opulent rooms you might want to adjust the light up a bit; for brightly painted rooms or minimalist design, adjust it down. Then you’re ready to employ complementary shades of light through spotlights, task and accent lights to feature the areas you want to focus upon, enhancing those areas without overwhelming the viewer.
The approach you take will also depend on the type room that you’re designing. Living rooms are designed to be active spaces at the end of the day, but later in the evening to set the mood you might want the lights to be able to be dimmer, as play winds down into relaxation. Bedrooms are by their nature built for relaxation, so the ambient lighting should be quieter. And galleries or studies, with their focused purpose, call for accent and task lighting that invite focus and attention.
Leverage natural light
Make the most of windows and skylights by ensuring that they play nicely with artificial lighting during the daylight hours.
Avoid placing bright lights next to dark areas
Step back and take in the room as a canvas, and make sure that your vision works for it as a cohesive space, with every element working together in concert?
Choose fixtures with similar design elements
Unless you are going for an extremely eclectic look in your room, be sure to think through how the different fixtures on display coordinate with each other. One sure way to do this is to pick a design style – mid century modern, Scandinavian, Rococo, or other – and choose fixtures within that style.
Time of day adjustment of lighting
During daylight hours our eyes adjust to natural light in all of its forms, from vivid sunlight outside to mediated light indoors. When the sun first sets, our eyes are still adjusting from the brightness of the day and so interiors call for a lot of light, which also helps with active evenings spent with family or friends. But as time passes, modifying lighting helps to create a calming mood as we head toward sleep.
The use of dimmers and warm temperature lighting help with this transition, but these are only the beginning. Setting light timers in your home keeps the shift in lighting regulated, as do today’s smart lighting systems that adapt to natural light levels in the room.
Design trends for today
Minimalist lighting is hot right now, using hidden fixtures to focus on the effects the light produces and the features it highlights, rather than the light source itself. Another trend is using vintage bulbs such as Edison bulbs in modern fixtures, to give a retro flair with a contemporary twist. And don’t forget LEDs: not only do they require less energy, produce less heat, and last for years, they come in a wider variety of decorative effects than ever before, from general purpose bulbs to those for floods, track lighting, and even tube lighting.
Overcoming challenges in emphasis lighting
Limited electrical setups can be a major factor in the choices you make. Whether it’s having few electrical outlets or a question of the overall electrical system, be sure to do your research into your home so you maximize potential without causing hiccups.
If you employ high intensity focus lights, also be aware of the heat that they generate. Incandescent bulbs in particular are worth paying attention to, because up to 90% of the energy they consume is emitted as heat. Along those same lines, be sure that your lighting plans comply with safety and building codes.
Light fixtures best suited for creating emphasis
We’ve covered a lot of options for creating emphasis with lighting in this article, so let’s look at some solutions. Directional spotlights are still a fan favorite, because of their ability to highlight features from artwork to design details. When it comes to task lighting, consider beautiful wall-mounted fixtures as well as under-cabinet options. Wall-mounted lighting also comes in the form of lovely sconces with focusing beams, to emphasize anything from artworks to featured furniture. And don’t forget accent lamps! With many choices to choose from, they help complete a room.