If you type “wellness” into your search bar, you’ll end up with 704 million hits, filled with opinions, solutions, answers and questions. Some say there are seven dimensions of wellness; others proclaim eight, five, or even twelve. The Oxford Dictionary defines wellness as “the state of being in good health, especially as an actively pursued goal.” Top celebrities have shared that you should look for the Well Seal as you go about your daily activities. There are many opinions out there, but there is no actual consensus as to what wellness truly is. But what we do know, is that wellness looks different for everyone.

Personalized wellness and human-centric design is what drives us, and one key component to any form of wellness-based design is none other than light.  Blue light, red light, more light, less light, too much too little light, germ-killing lights, lights that put you to sleep and lights that wake you up again – yikes!

Here at Morlights, we recently completed an exciting new wellness project: BIÂN Chicago. BIÂN claims to be the most comprehensive social and wellness space on the planet. It was an honor to work on such a beautiful project with other talented industry leaders.

The interior designer told us, “I don’t want to see the light; I just want it to be illuminated.” Challenge accepted.

Glare control, vertical illumination, contrast ratios, flicker control, and color rendition were all key metrics used to anticipate and nurture user comfort. Luckily, the latest iterations of lighting technology were available to meet those goals. In the quest for more lumens per watt, the lighting industry lost its way for a while. Unfortunately, glare and flicker became acceptable tradeoffs for fewer watts and more lumens. But, as efficiency has gone up and price has come down, we are once again able to introduce quality illumination and human-centric design.

Indirect fixture placement, asymmetric optics, accents, digital dimming and high-quality sources were the techniques we employed in this wellness-dedicated space, illuminating the design in a subtle, yet powerful way.  The end result is a space that engages yet creates calm and relaxation; a setting with lighting that enables quiet contemplation and rest, exercise or even gathering with friends. Here at Morlights, we always strive to ground our work in knowledge-based, foundational best practices and artistic, intuitive technique, supplemented by the best and newest technologies.

The moral of the story is that good lighting design is, by definition, human centric. The quality of the user experience should always drive the design process. Keeping this in mind, the inevitable obstacles and redesigns can be sculpted to a successful end to meet every definition of “wellness.”