Lighting for Non-lighting Experts
Are you scrolling through what seems like an endless sea of lighting products?
We admit, it’s not always to find the product you need. But that’s why we’re here.
You don’t need to know about the melting of metallic salts in an HID lamp, the chemical balance in a fluorescent lamp, or why lighting specialists people keep referring to light bulbs as lamps. You just need to know how to make lighting fit your needs.
So how do you do that? Here are a few pointers.
Choose your specs carefully
Have you ever ordered a “daylight” light bulb thinking it will make your lighting look similar to the warm, pleasant aura of the sun?
Once it’s delivered, you climb a ladder, screw the light bulb into the socket, and then turn cockeyed as you look at the light, trying to figure out why it's not warm or pleasant.
Here's the problem: the “daylight” light bulb you just bought has a kelvin temperature of 6500. That means the bulb emits a blue, bright light that you typically find in surgical operating rooms.
Definitely the wrong atmosphere for the living room you're trying to cozy up.
This same problem can exist in almost any setting in a commercial building, too.
Here’s a simple guide to help you decide which color temperature is right for you:
- Warm light sources – Typically incandescent light bulbs with more light in the red, orange, and yellow range. The color temperature is between 2,200 – 3,000 Kelvin. Click here to shop warm light source products.
- Cool light sources – Typically HID or fluorescent light bulbs with more light in the blue range. The color temperature is greater than 4,000 Kelvin. Click here to shop cool light source products.
If you’d like to read more on color temperature, we have more information here.
We also have helpful information on other specifications:
As you’re looking for the product you need, use the filters on the left side of your screen to find the product you need.
You could also ask our lighting specialists for help. Lighting experts are trained to easily identify good and bad lighting and whether or not it will work in a specific application.
Focus on the right lighting for your application
You can probably picture a hospital hallway and its crisp, clean, white lighting. Walking down that hallway brings you a sense of cleanliness and sterility.
On the flip side, have you ever walked a hospital hallway that has dingy, yellow lighting? You don't feel that same sense of cleanliness there. It feels so much less sterile and you're probably looking for an exit.
Those two hospitals are probably equally clean and probably have similarly talented staffs, but when a hospital hallway has warmer, yellow lights, you get all the wrong vibes.
This scenario confirms the following statement: Good lighting in the wrong application is bad lighting.
Now, picture a local coffee shop. It has comfortable seating, rustic furniture, and friendly baristas who have laid-back music playing at just the right volume. You feel relaxed there.
Remember those nasty warm lights in the hospital? Those are the same lights in your local coffee shop hideaway, just in the right application.
But if you took those bright white lights in the cleaner-feeling hospital and put them in a coffee shop, you'd feel distracted and discomforted by the brightness. You'd probably get your cappuccino to go.
The point remains: good lighting in the wrong application is bad lighting.
Define your goals
Are you a restaurant owner with a concept fit for family dining? Well, you're probably not aiming for a dim, intimate “bar” feel. You want your families to feel welcome and relaxed enough to enjoy the food on their plates. You're looking for a good neutral light that balances warmth and brightness to give your space a family-friendly feel. Too warm and families will feel unwelcome. Too bright and the myriad of spills and crumbs from all of those free-loading two-year-old patrons will be put under a spotlight.
Maybe you're a store manager of a place which sells a wide variety of clothing. You sell to the business professional as often as the hipster teenager. In this case, you have a very wide target market. You want your consumers to see every corner of the store as soon as they walk in. You want them to do a quick scan and know where to go – “Ah, back left, there’s something for me.” What kind of lighting do you want for your store? Probably a brighter white light. Everything needs to be crisp and vibrant with nothing squirreled away in the shadows.
Without first defining who your target market is and what the goals of your business are, it's tough to get your lighting right. But once you figure out those fundamentals, it's time to talk to a lighting expert.