One room can serve multiple purposes. It can be a place where you can relax, work on the computer, do arts and crafts, cook, share a meal with friends, and much more… This is why lighting features need to correspond to the setting or application of the room.
"The best advice I can offer is the following: no matter what you do, or what you hope to accomplish, always install three types of lighting in a room," says Patricia Rizzo, of the Lighting Research Center. People often expect a single source of light to meet all their needs. Yet, each of the three types of lighting has a particular function to fulfill specific needs, which are:
Ambient lighting
Task lighting
Accent lighting
Ambient Indoor Lighting
General or ambient lighting is intended to light up a room in its entirety. It provides a uniform level of illumination throughout the space independently of other lighting sources. Moreover, its purpose is to ensure safe and easy traffic, as well as to create an overview of the room. The ambient light "bounces" off the walls to illuminate as much space as possible.
Ambient Outdoor Lighting
Outdoor lighting is usually installed in order to ensure visibility and increase security around a building. It is also recommended to light up the exterior of the building, entrances and stairs to reduce and perhaps eliminate the risk of injury that can occur when entering and leaving the building.
Task Lighting
Task lighting illuminates the tasks a person carries out in a given space such as reading, cooking, computer work. A brighter light is required in a smaller focal point of the room for these sorts of tasks. For a more pleasant illumination, it is often best to avoid harsh lights or lighting that casts troublesome shadows. It is also practical to install a single switch for focal lighting, independent from the room's overall lighting switch.
Accent Lighting
Accent lighting is used mainly to focus on a specific point of interest or to achieve a desired effect. This type of lighting gives the impression of a larger room. It is more frequently used to highlight an architectural feature, a plant (in outdoor layout), a sculpture, or a collection of objects. As a general rule, effective accent lighting requires the installation of three times more light on the focal point than ambient lighting generally provides.
For these three types of lighting purposes, light can be divided into many different types as well. For example, there are Gas Station Light, Explosion Proof Light, Street Light, Indoor Light, LED Headlight, Fog Light, etc. And surprisely, light can be even used in the LED Gas Price Display and Car Charger.