let's lose the LED light strips

Look, I get it. It’s fun to control the lights behind your TV, computer monitor, or Zoom background. In a world where big tech has such a large influence on the economy, politics, etc. Why not have that reflected intimately in your home? It’s not surprising the even wash of colored lights gained so much momentum in recent years. It somehow reflects the sleek, colorful, and yet restrained design language so many of these companies love to utilize. As if they want to yell that they’re fun, but only to a point (honestly, I can relate). 

This screams 'let's work until the sun comes up!'

Politics aside, I’ve seen some interesting things pop up lately that talk about the imperfections of LED lights in general (Morning Brew) and light strips specifically (Noah Daniel). A lightbulb moment (ha) went off in my head about how I can add to this topic.

So here’s the design psychology angle I can provide for why it might not be great to cover your home in LED light strips and ways to adjust if you’re currently utilizing them.

Let’s envision going for a walk in the neighborhood during the day. You’ll likely encounter some sun and shade. If you’re afraid of damaging your skin, perhaps you’ll seek out more shade. You could take cover with a building or tree. The tree will likely provide less coverage because of the way light filters through the foliage. It creates a beautiful, unpredictable pattern that will change based on the wind, type of leaf, and direction of the sun. This is called dappled lighting. It’s appealing to our senses because it cannot easily be replicated and you must be present in the moment to appreciate its uniqueness.

Now let’s rewind and consider cavepeople at night time. What was their light source? Fire. Which would flicker, snap, and crackle. The intensity of the light could only go so far because they only usually had one light source. It would also grow or wane in its output of light naturally.

What do these examples share? Well for one, they’re not stagnant like our LED light strips. The amount of light fluctuates slightly in response to the surrounding elements. There’s an inherent movement that happens without human interference. Sure, you can make your LED light strips go from red to blue but that’s not necessarily in reaction to the context of the space, likely more out of desire to temporarily have a dance party in your living room. So what’s at play here and why is it important?

Here’s the primary difference that I think biophilic design would back me up on. In nature, we don’t get even, linear washes of light, particularly at night when we're looking to add illumination. Similar to experiencing dappled sunlight when walking under a tree, there’s a point of tension between light and dark. There are pockets of light that contrast with the absence of light in other areas. This is also the same reason why there’s been more online backlash around the ‘big light’ and too much canned lighting. It’s just too static. Thus, we don’t feel comfortable with hyper consistent strip lights because they aren't mirrored in nature. Especially in today's world, there’s a desire for something that’s less manufactured.

Another large component is our circadian rhythm. We inherently know that light is supposed to change because we depend on those variations to signal to our brain when it’s time to go to bed and wake up. Although modern day isn’t as one to one with this, it’s still hardwired into our psychology. This is why folks in places like Alaska and Scandinavia invest into light blocking window treatments for the summer months. It isn’t conducive to try and sleep when it's light.

Dappled lighting in nature

Hopefully, during the day most of us are experiencing the world with natural daylight (it's only important for mental health and sleep schedules). But at night, we are in charge of manipulating the lighting to make it comfortable and functional. And a lot of folks are now understanding what it feels like when we don’t do a very good job at addressing this in design. 

So, if there’s somewhere in your home that you’re starting to feel disconnected to or uncomfy with, there’s a high chance it could be your lighting. If you’re suspicious of that, here are a few easy tips to replace LED strips.

It’s important for good ambient lighting to have pockets of light. If you’ve ever walked by a house at night and thought they have great landscaping, it’s likely because they’ve nailed the idea of pooling light. It's okay to have some darker areas to give some contrast to where the light is.

You can do this by integrating a minimum of two table or floor lamps per room, three for living rooms. If they have a focused stream of light, cast their direction toward a wall. It will bounce the light in an interesting way that’s less harsh. If it’s already more filtered with even glow, such as a fabric shade, let them stand on their own. 

Next, take inventory of the height and layers of light sources. It’s good to have light near eye level. This doesn’t mean to have every light at exactly 5’8” because it’s important to vary the heights by a few feet, especially in rooms where there’s a combination of sitting, standing, or laying down. Consider where eye level might be most often and use that as a starting point to begin adding in those layers.

Pooling your light is going to make your space easier to relax in. You don’t have to avoid LED lights 100% of the time, but the neat uniformity of exclusively using linear strips is the main component I want to discourage. If you want to fill your home gym with LED strips to energize you, ball out dude. But as someone who takes my coziness very seriously, it’s not something I’d recommend in many other areas of your home. 

Relax and linger awhile

Essentially, avoid strip lighting because it’s quite unnatural. Our minds and bodies recognize this and they will thank you with better rest and relaxation.