The quality of a light fixture does not matter … if the fixture is in the wrong place. Getting the right light in the right place is not rocket science, but that does not keep thousands of custom homes from horrible lighting.

As a fan of DMF Lighting products, acclaimed lighting designer David Warfel stopped by the DMF booth at the 2020 CEDIA Virtual expo to preach the Nine Deadly Sins of Lighting Layouts that his team sees time and again, so you can avoid them on your next project.

Nine Deadly Sins of Lighting Layouts

1. Ceiling Fan Light Syndrome
2. Four Cans and a Fan
3. Vanity Insanity
4. Perfect Shadows
5. Countertop Caper
6. Overhead Dependency
7. Binary Existence
8. Death of Details
9. Geometry Versus Humanity

David Warfel is founding designer of Light Can Help You, author, and educator at the crossroads of architecture, light, and integration. He serves as lighting advisor to the ProSource buying group, leading the development of the first integrator-specific lighting certification program, and is former head of the graduate lighting design program at the University of Illinois.

David’s company built the revolutionary Signature Custom Lighting Design service to be an affordable, easy, and highly professional option for lighting design. The LCHY team partners with custom integrators nationwide to help them grow in lighting fixture sales and navigate the complex and rapidly changing world of light.

His design credits range from projects at Carnegie Hall and Las Vegas’ Luxor to Chicago’s Hyde Park Arts Center and multiple themed spaces for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. While he and his team still design commercial projects, their primary focus is on custom residential projects from coast to coast (and beyond).  His work and writing have been featured in Technology Design, Fine Homebuilding, Lighting Australia, and multiple times on Houzz.com.

David blogs at languageoflight.blog and lives in Madison, WI.