Over the past twenty years, lighting design software has done something extremely important for the industry—it has transformed illuminance calculations, light distribution simulations, glare control, and energy consumption estimates into a visual workflow.
- DIALux, Relux, AGi32 have made professional lighting design more precise and reliable.
- Cohoom, 3D Home, RoomSketcher have made home design and interior styling more accessible and understandable for consumers.
But now, the demand has quietly shifted:
Clients no longer ask only, “Is it bright enough? Is it energy-efficient?” Increasingly, they are asking:
“Does this lighting support sleep, vision, focus, and mood?”
As healthy lighting / HCL / human-centric lighting moves from academic papers into tender documents, certification standards, and client KPIs, design tools that still only calculate Eh, UGR, and installed power are effectively keeping every designer using your software stuck in the previous generation’s rules of the game.
This article aims to have a serious conversation with lighting tool manufacturers about three things:
- Real-world project KPIs have already changed.
- Your product architecture should evolve to reflect this.
- LRS, along with a community of HCL researchers, is ready to collaborate with you to get this right.
1. Real-World Project KPIs Have Changed: From “Illuminance Compliance” to “Health and Performance”
Today’s clients—especially hospitals, schools, corporate headquarters, luxury residences, and hotels—are increasingly accustomed to incorporating “health” into project goals:
- Health building standards such as WELL.
- Employee health and productivity metrics in ESG reports.
- Schools and hospitals focusing on sleep, circadian rhythms, and emotional stability.
- High-end residences and hotels committing to sleep quality and children’s vision protection.
These goals cannot be addressed solely with horizontal illuminance (Eh), UGR, or power density (W/m²).
Clients care about:
- Daytime: Are employees and students receiving sufficient circadian light stimulation?
- Nighttime: Can patients and residents sleep comfortably in a supportive light environment?
- Long-term: Could lighting unintentionally contribute to fatigue, anxiety, or sleep problems over time?
Yet, most mainstream design tools today still operate with a workflow like:
“Select fixtures → Place fixtures → Calculate Eh/UGR → Check false color → Export report.”
While this remains important, it is no longer sufficient.
2. If Design Software Only Calculates Horizontal Illuminance, Supporting HCL Becomes Very Difficult
From a healthy lighting / HCL perspective, current design tools have several structural gaps:
1. Lack of “Human Eye Perspective” and Vertical / Circadian Metrics
- Most software defaults to horizontal illuminance (Eh) on work surfaces.
- A few support vertical illuminance (Ev), but these options are often hidden in advanced settings.
- Metrics closely tied to HCL, such as m-EDI, EML, CS, are rarely natively supported.
Result: Designers may create a “compliant” plan in software, but on-site measurements with tools like In.Licht Ultra often reveal that eye-level Ev or circadian stimulation is severely insufficient or excessive.
2. Lack of a “Timeline” Concept
- The core of HCL is “light dose × time.”
- Morning vs. afternoon, workdays vs. night shifts—the lighting scene should change.
- At minimum, the same space should have “alert mode” 和 “relaxation mode” over the course of a day.
Currently, most tools still work like this:
Calculate illuminance for one “typical scenario,” maybe add a second “energy-saving mode.”
Without a timeline, HCL remains just a slide in a presentation, never appearing on the software screen.
3. Lack of “User & Scenario” Preset Templates
- Children vs. elderly: different circadian light doses.
- Night-shift nurses vs. office workers: completely different circadian strategies.
- Hotel rooms vs. ICU vs. senior apartments: large differences in required color temperature, illuminance, and timing.
If design tools still only offer generic templates like office / factory / commercial / warehouse and lack HCL-specific scenarios such as children’s learning zones, night-shift nurse stations, elderly bedrooms, or recovery areas, designers are left to figure it out themselves—the tools fail to provide the guidance and educational value they should.
3. In the HCL Era, Five Key Things Lighting Design Tools Can Do
As a team with long-term research and field testing experience in HCL / light and health, LRS knows that if design tools take just a few steps forward, they can open a whole new door for the industry. Here are five concrete and practical suggestions:
1. Make “Vertical Illuminance + Circadian Metrics” a Default Output
- In addition to Eh, UGR, and power, add Ev (eye-level vertical illuminance) and simplified circadian metrics (e.g., m-EDI, EML, or simple grading).
- Precision isn’t required from the start, but the UI should give designers a clear sense of how much light reaches the eyes.
Once design software visibly displays Ev / circadian metrics, designers will start taking them seriously.
2. Introduce “Timeline-Based Scene” Design Thinking
- Support defining multiple lighting scenes for different times of the day in the same space:
Morning wake-up / afternoon focus / evening transition / night relaxation / night-shift mode. - Present changes along a timeline in calculations and exported reports, instead of just one static image.
This approach helps:
- Link intelligent control systems with the design software.
- Help clients understand why multiple scenes are necessary.
- Allow designers to incorporate HCL thinking into proposals and tender documents.
3. Provide “User × Scenario” HCL Templates
- Collaborate with professional teams to simplify complex research into easy-to-use templates, for example:
- Children’s learning zones: daytime study / evening homework
- Office spaces: standard day shift / night overtime
- Hotel rooms: check-in welcome / pre-sleep relaxation / nighttime safety
- Elderly bedrooms: morning wake-up / daytime activity / nighttime sleep
Each template should include:
- Recommended Eh / Ev ranges
- Recommended color temperature ranges
- Recommended timeline and switching logic
Designers can adjust these templates rather than starting from scratch.
4. Close the Loop Between Design Tools and Measurement Devices
- Increasingly, HCL projects are using In.Licht Ultra / Pro devices for on-site verification.
- If design software can:
- Export a standard “target values list” for measurement devices
- Import measurement data to automatically compare design vs. measured values
- Generate “measured light maps / adjustment recommendations” from on-site data
…then the software evolves from being a design-phase tool to a platform spanning design → commissioning → verification → re-measurement.
5. Open APIs for Deep Integration with HCL Models
- Many lighting manufacturers, driver, and system vendors are developing their own HCL strategies and control models:
- Different spectra and mixed color temperature strategies
- Preset scenes aligned with WELL or EN standards
- Circadian control logic integrated with BMS / IoT platforms
If design software offers:
- Open APIs or plugin mechanisms
- Allowing brands to embed their HCL scene packages, spectral data, and control logic
…then:
- Tool providers become healthy lighting platforms,
- Brands become scene content providers,
- Designers and clients can truly communicate within a shared language and system.
4. What Can Cohoom, DIALux, and Others Do?
Different platforms target different user groups, but the opportunities are clear.
For platforms like Cohoom, focused on home design / retail / visualization:
- You are closest to the end consumer.
- If you add HCL-focused scenarios to your model libraries and scene templates—such as children’s vision-protecting study areas, sleep-supporting bedrooms, or calming living rooms—and provide simple health tips or guidance in both rendering and parameter information,
…then you can help thousands of designers and sales staff convince consumers more scientifically:
“This isn’t just a beautiful lighting setup—it’s a light environment that better supports your child’s sleep and vision.”
For professional engineering platforms like DIALux, Relux, and AGi32:
- You hold the professional authority with design institutes, consulting firms, and engineering companies.
- If you natively support Ev, circadian metrics, and calculations for L01–L03 clauses in your China / Asia versions, and collaborate with HCL research teams to incorporate local standards and healthy lighting parameters,
…then you have the potential to become:
“The default platform for discussions of circadian and healthy lighting in engineering and health-focused building projects over the next decade.”
5. LRS Is Ready to Collaborate to Get This Right
Over the years, LRS (Lighting Recipe Studio) has been doing several related things:
- Working with international and local experts to translate spectral, circadian, visual, and emotional models into designable and measurable metrics.
- Conducting extensive on-site measurements using In.Licht Ultra / Pro / Well across hospitals, campuses, offices, hotels, and residential spaces.
- Designing systematic courses and tool workflows for designers, lighting companies, developers, and industry associations.
We understand that integrating HCL capabilities into your products must be scientifically rigorous, yet also user-friendly and cost-effective.
If you are a design platform such as Cohoom, DIALux, Relux, AGi32, planning to include HCL / WELL / healthy lighting modules in your next product version,
LRS is ready to collaborate as a consultant and content partner, helping define:
- Which metrics are most important
- Which templates are most practical
- How UI design can provide guidance without disrupting the designer
…bringing HCL from academic papers and classrooms directly into your software interface.
6. Preview of the Next Article: Lighting System Manufacturers Need to Act
Today’s article is an invitation to lighting design tool manufacturers:
If you don’t embrace HCL, designers will struggle to truly design the light for people’s lives.
In the next article, we will turn to another key player: lighting system manufacturers / control systems / smart lighting platforms.
We will discuss:
- Once tools support Ev and circadian scenarios, how should system manufacturers rebuild scene logic and control architectures?
- How to move from simple on/off or dimming to circadian dose management?
- How to make HCL a commercially valuable, replicable solution, rather than just marketing copy?
If you are a lighting design tool provider, feel free to share the next article with your partner brands and system manufacturers.
The true era of healthy lighting requires tools, products, systems, and designers to upgrade together.
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