Light Reflectance Value

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What is LRV?

LRV is the acronym for Light Reflectance Value. Value is often confused with the term intensity. Intensity is about vividness or dullness – is the colour clear or muted? Value, however refers strictly to the lightness or darkness of a colour.

LRV runs on a scale from 0% to 100%. As you can see from the above scale 0% is an absolute black and 100% is a perfectly reflective white.
Dark colours below the mid-point of 50% will absorb more light from a room, where colours with a higher LRV will reflect more light back into a room.

Designing for Dementia and Visually Impaired

Having the correct knowledge of LRVs is vital for the design of care homes, especially for patients who have dementia or for those who are visually impaired. Colour plays an important role when designing for care homes. Colour affects a patient’s mood and ability to navigate.

Contrast sensitivity is a common visual issue and making clear, high level contrast is one of the most important factors when designing for these patients. The level of contrast between surfaces such as walls and ceilings, doors and seating etc. is invaluable in giving clues to the visually impaired as to the shape and potential navigation of a room.

Light Reflectance Values are the best way to measure contrast. All fabrics, paints and materials have an LRV marked out of 100 points. To meet requirements, there should be at least a 30 point variance in LRVs between adjacent surfaces such as floors and walls. This is a legal requirement since the Equality Act 2010.