Lighting design
Lighting design is the planned use of natural and electric light to meet visual, functional, and aesthetic goals in a space or production.
Illuminance: Illuminance is the luminous flux incident on a surface per unit area, measured in lux. It quantifies how much light reaches a task surface.
Daylight: Daylight is natural illumination from the sun and sky reaching an indoor or outdoor space. Its changing intensity and direction shape both daylighting and electric-light needs.
Architectural lighting: Architectural lighting is the integration of illumination with a building's spaces, surfaces, and uses. It applies lighting design to permanent built environments.
Ambient lighting: Ambient lighting provides general illumination throughout an area. It establishes the broad base against which focused and decorative light are balanced.
Visual comfort: Visual comfort is the condition of seeing clearly without undue strain, discomfort, or glare. It is a central outcome of balancing brightness, contrast, and distribution.
Luminance: Luminance is the intensity of light emitted or reflected from a surface in a given direction, measured in candelas per square metre. It relates surface brightness to glare and visual comfort.
Lighting control system: A lighting control system adjusts luminaires through switches, sensors, schedules, or digital commands. It lets designers tune illumination to occupancy, time, and activity.
Theatrical lighting: Theatrical lighting uses controlled light in performance spaces to shape visibility, mood, and dramatic focus. It shows how light can guide attention and create a changing visual world.
Task lighting: Task lighting directs illumination toward a specific activity, such as reading or cooking. It concentrates light where visual work demands more detail.
Wayfinding: Wayfinding is the process of determining and following a route through an environment. Lighting can make routes, entrances, and hazards easier to recognize.