In design, light isn’t just illumination, it’s communication. A gesture. A signal. The way a product glows, pulses, flickers, or refracts light speaks volumes about its personality, its intent, and its interaction with us.
At Whipsaw, we approach lighting not as a static feature but as a dynamic design language. While designers often speak the language of CMF (Color, Material, Finish), at Whipsaw we’ve added an “L” for lighting. Like CMF, lighting must be designed- whether it’s reflected, emitted, or refracted. Sometimes light is a subtle whisper, and sometimes it shouts. But it always tells a story and that story can shape perception, build trust, and create delight.
Lighting is one of the most emotionally resonant tools a designer has. It operates on both a functional and psychological level: it can provide visual cues, regulate circadian rhythms, influence mood, and even define space. Lighting isn’t just what you see—it’s how you feel about what you see. The right glow can turn a cold interface into a warm gesture. The right pulse can breathe life into an otherwise inert object. When we design light, we’re designing attention, emotion, and even behavior.
For Ancient Ritual, an in-home experiential sauna, we considered not only the functional aspects of the sauna but the emotional journey of the user. Working with James Turrell's lighting engineer, we developed a way to make light rise and fade across a wall within just an inch off the surface—mimicking the rhythm and hue of sunrise and sunset.
This wasn’t just aesthetic—it was physiological, tapping into circadian rhythm and mood. Layering light, sound, temperature, and tactility, we transformed a compact, enclosed chamber into a vast, meditative escape. Inspired by natural phenomena like auroras and dusk skies, the lighting in Arc becomes more than atmosphere—it’s therapy, inviting calm and internal expansion.
Ohm, a wellness lamp for guided breathing, flips the conventional lighting paradigm inward. It glows—not to be seen, but to be felt. Designed to mirror and pace resonant breathing, Ohm’s inner light ascends and descends with the inhale and exhale of your breath, drawing users into presence through guided breathing meditations.
Its interaction is deeply human, while its form evokes reference to a lantern with an inner ribcage. When the companion sensor stone is lifted, a subtle change in hue signals readiness. Here, light is not decorative—it’s responsive, intuitive, and resonant.
Sometimes lighting is less about mood and more about solving a real human problem. For example, the Uber Beacon, a product we designed to help riders and drivers find each other.
Mounted on a car’s dashboard, the Beacon emits a bright, customizable U-shaped glow that passengers can match in their app, "look for the green U.” The system even accounts for color-blind users, using animated pulses to differentiate vehicles. In the sea of dark city traffic, that bit of personalized light becomes a signal, a handshake, a relief.
It’s a great example of what we call functional lighting empathy: the ability to guide, reassure, and connect, all through one carefully designed glow. More than just a beacon, the light becomes a playful, ambient expression of the Uber brand—something you don’t just see, but feel. It invites interaction, sparks a sense of delight, and quietly affirms: “Uber is here. And it’s here for you.”
We don’t stumble on great lighting innovation by accident, we find it through relentless hands-on exploration and empirical experimentation. We sketch, prototype, and play with real materials, chasing effects that can’t be modeled on a screen.
Some of our best moments come when we surprise ourselves: when a test setup reveals a new refraction or a prototype gives off a glow we hadn’t planned for. When designing an entertainment kiosk we started experimenting with a string of LEDs in an acrylic tube filled with glass beads, aiming to simulate moonlight through snow. When we turned it on, the scattered refractions created a mesmerizing, crystalline shimmer we never expected—and couldn’t have designed without seeing it in the real world.
We also find inspiration in nature—sunlight hitting dew on a spiderweb, or the way haze filters light during early morning fog. These are more than poetic references—they’re design inputs. Great lighting design begins with observation, evolves through making, and ends in emotional resonance.
From years of hands-on exploration, research, and real-world product launches, we’ve found that great lighting design hinges on more than aesthetics. It requires empathy, intention, and physical experimentation. Here are four foundational principles that guide our approach at Whipsaw:
Lighting should support how people feel, not just what they see. That means tuning for time of day, task, or tension. It means eliminating glare and cognitive overload, and offering feedback that’s subtle but clear. From mood-regulating glows to accessible light patterns for the color-blind, empathetic lighting design puts the user’s comfort, clarity, and confidence first.
The most compelling lighting experiences don’t feel like add-ons. They emerge from the product’s core purpose and form. Consider how light interacts with internal components, materials, and user intent. Whether casting ambient glows or illuminating critical interfaces, the lighting should feel integral and engineered as part of the experience, not layered on top of it.
Whether it glows softly or pulses with urgency, light conveys meaning. It can suggest readiness, signal status, or offer reassurance, all without a word. Use light intentionally to communicate the product’s state, purpose, or personality. A luminous heartbeat can feel alive; a warm fade can feel like an August sunset.
Software alone can’t predict how light refracts, diffuses, or surprises. Great lighting often comes from tactile discovery and working with a myriad of materials. These physical explorations reveal nuances that digital models miss and often lead to emotional moments you can’t script.
Designing with light is about more than visibility. It's about connection. Light is a key element to develop trust, express product identity, and create emotional impact without ever saying a word. It’s a subtle and powerful tool to reinforce a brand and deepen customer engagement through the experience of light. When we treat light as both material and message, we unlock its full potential to transform everyday experiences into something quietly powerful.
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