Landscape Lighting Design: Keeping It Simple
Of all the lessons I've learned from running a lighting installation company (today, Dayloom), one of the most useful has been to keep things simple. From selection to landscape lighting design, I've found that the more choices you offer, the more complicated a project can get. By simplifying what my company offers, I've made things exponentially easier for myself, and for my customers.
Keep your selections simple
Everyone loves having choices. Walk into any department store and you'll be met with a couple dozen different options for anything from toothpaste to pillowcases. And with the internet, your options are almost limitless. However, sometimes there's a drawback to having so many options. While it may be impressive to tell your clients they can have their pick of a hundred different path lights, it often draws out the process and makes your customers focus on the wrong thing. Ultimately, you want your customers focused on the effect, not the fixture.
Keep your luminaires simple
Before I designed my own line of landscape lighting luminaires, I offered my customers good/better/best options. However, it muddied the water and, again, took my customers' focus off the effect of lighting on their landscape and home. Instead, they became focused on weighing the pros and cons of more or less expensive products. As a lighting designer, I want my customers to be confident that I'm offering them the best of everything. The best service. The best product. The best value. That lets them keep their focus on what's important: beautiful lighting for their home. A tight, proven lineup, like the SL04 Mini Flood Light and the SL07 Path Light, covers most of what a project needs.
Keep your landscape lighting designs simple
Similar to offering good/better/best is offering your customers lighting "packages." While it may seem like a simple solution for your customers and yourself, it really just gives your customers another unnecessary choice to make. Ditch the A, B and C options. Keep your landscape lighting design simple by listening to what your customers want and working with them to achieve it. Every home and every customer is unique, and by taking the time to understand your customers, you can give them exactly what they're looking for without complicating the process. For more on that, read the pros and cons of design demos.
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About the author: Patrick Harders, LC, is co-founder and CEO of Sterling Lighting and founder and principal lighting designer of Dayloom. He has more than 25 years of experience designing and installing outdoor lighting, and he's one of only five landscape lighting designers in North America with Lighting Certified (LC) accreditation. His projects have won multiple international lighting awards, including landscape lighting winners in 2018 and 2021, and he leads design of Sterling's luminaires.
