General vs. accent lighting
It happens to everyone. We feel more energised during long sunny summer days. While during the dark months of winter, we feel a bit blue. It’s quite the same indoors. People’s behaviour is influenced by the light that’s used in a space. When it comes to designing an environment, setting the right mood is essential. The first step to create a good feeling is to get the intensity of light right and find the right balance between general and accent lighting. So how do you choose? Let’s see what the rule of thumb is when making a light study.
Put the light to work with general lighting
The choice of light depends on the purpose of the space, of course. An office space, kitchen or a fast-food restaurant require a high level of general lighting. They’re brightly and evenly lit to increase visibility while being active. In these environments, there is no real need to put too much emphasis on certain areas. Therefore, high levels of light go hand-in-hand with work and high-paced activities.
Add some drama with accent lighting
A dim light suggests comfort, peace and rest. Our home, for example, needs to give us a different vibe than the office space where we spend our working days. This is where accent lighting comes into play. Dimming the light, doesn’t mean you should spend your time in nearly pitch black. By highlighting certain areas in the room, you create a dramatic contrast that makes you feel cosy in an environment destined to intimacy and chilling out, like in a living room. In short: accent lighting is what gives the room a real character, after dark.
General and accent lighting combined is a new way of lighting
And then there’s the combination of both general and accent lighting, a trend that is increasingly present in lighting designs at home, in hospitality but also in offices and retail. Since today our living areas and working spaces tend to have more open layouts, there is a bigger need for flexible luminaires that combine general lighting and accent lighting. For example, you might want an open-plan kitchen to remain a well-lit functional work space without interfering with the relaxing atmosphere created in the living room. Or in the same kitchen, you might want to use accents on the wall or on some surfaces to change the mood while food is cooking. That’s when luminaires like Pista can help you combine design and function to set the mood right.
Pista: the best of both
With features like the night light module and the twin bracket, Pista – our newly launched thin and slim magnetic track rail – brings to the market even more creative options to design new symmetrical or asymmetrical light compositions. Using both general and accent lighting. The ultimate in modern aesthetics, Pista empowers designers to create their own masterpiece of lighting design.