Design Theory Archives - Page 4 of 11

THINK LIGHT: Less (Copper) is More (Better)

A cartoon of a stick figure labelled "LED" asking for a glass of water and another stick figure labelled "120W" offering water from a fire hose

I am working on a article extolling the virtues of low voltage power distribution and I find myself wondering, as Mike Teolis from Colorbeam said, “can anyone give me a valid reason why we need 120 volt infrastructure for a 14 watt LED putting out 1000 lumens?” I love to geek out on lighting technology […]

1THING: Plug In Media Rooms

An illustration of a living room with a lamp next to a chair in front of a TV with a word bubble saying "lampshade reflected on a glossy screen"

One of the unexpected joys of my 1THING: Plug In series is the discovery of new ideas and techniques that I can instantly apply to my own home- and the affirmation that some of the solutions that have evolved naturally over time in my home make some sense after all. This post has both. In […]

THINK LIGHT: Quantity Versus Budget

An illustration labelled "The way it should not go:" A stick figure on the left is holding cash saying "Can you build me a new house?" with a label underneath that says "You. The expert of needs + bank account" A stick figure on the left is wearing a hardhat saying "Sure! it will take 3,127 2x4's and 6,246 nails." with a label underneath that says "the builder. the expert of construction methods + costs"

Budget conversations are my least favorite part of the lighting design process, though I have learned to dive right in rather than soft-pedal the costs and cause everyone bigger headaches down the road. The simple (unfortunate) truth is that really good lighting cannot be delivered for the same price as really bad lighting. Complicating the […]

EXPOSURE: Designing Lighting

Cover for Designing Lighting magazine for August 2022

The first article in my series on residential lighting for Designing Lighting is out, and I am honored to be a part of this magazine! Getting the series together was not easy, however, and I have a long way to go before all six articles are complete. What makes this hard? Writing for a peer […]

EXPOSURE: The Pretty Good House

Book cover of Pretty Good House: A Guide to Creating Better Homes

What makes a pretty good house? My first exposure to the Taunton Press was as an avid reader of Sarah Susanka’s The Not So Big House books. Taunton is also responsible for Fine Homebuilding (to which I subscribe and for whom I have written) and Fine Woodworking, among others. Now Taunton has published a new […]

THINK LIGHT: the case for color

An illustration of a judge's gavel in front of a rainbow

I am continually amazed at the lack of color in our lighting, at home and at work. We wear colored clothing, drive colored cars, paint our homes and cabinets in color, and hang colored photos and art on our walls. We choose colored carpets and colored ceramic tile, we buy colored backpacks and purses, some […]

Okay Lighting Design

A thumbs-up on the left side with the words "good lighting design" below it, and a thumbs-down on the right with the words "bad lighting design" below it

Lighting designers are trained from birth…okay, that’s an exaggeration and a cliche, so this blog post is not off to the best start. Where was I? Ah yes, lighting designers are trained to know the difference between good lighting design and bad lighting design. This morning I pondered the possibility that this embedded understanding of […]

THINK LIGHT: Field of (viewing) Dreams

A diagram of a human's field of view, both peripheral and macular

My THINK LIGHT series is my outlet for being a lighting geek. Perhaps I should rephrase that – this is my outlet for being a lighting pseudo-geek. I do love the science, geometry, biology, psychology, and technology of light, but I am no scientist, biologist, psychologist, or technologist. There is a limit to how geeky […]

THINK LIGHT: Has anyone seen my light meter?

An illustration of the head of a white man with brown hair. One of his eyes is replaced by a reader from a light reader, a cord connects to the meter. Script below the head reads "the lighting cyborg"

This post might make some of my lighting colleagues a little angry, because I’m going to claim that light meters are nearly useless tools. I’m going to claim that the numbers we produce, the foot-candle levels or lux we calculate and measure, the math behind lighting design is all rather pointless. (And before you write […]

1THING: New Build Dining Rooms

An illustration of two figures with their arms around each others' shoulders. They are encompassed by a bright yellow circle behind them. Below them, script text reads "get comfortable with a lighting hug."

This post brings dining rooms into my 1THING: New Build series, but you’ll have to skip ahead or slog through some early morning musings to get there. Sorry. Blogging is a bit of weird phenomenon. Here I sit, week after week, writing about lighting with no deadlines, no paycheck, and no guarantee that what I write will […]

Category: Design Theory