Collection: Latest Trends In Lighting Design

Over the years lighting technology and interior design trends have changed a lot with ongoing fast changing requirements of the users. Thus,

the trends and norms of effective lighting design have also changed with time. Let’s go over some of these latest trends.

1. Residential lighting

   Interior design trends in residential sector has revolutionised over the years. Customers require the latest designs and technology to be used at their home to achieve maximum comfort and aesthetics.

   Most common practice in the residential interior design these days is to have a false ceiling. This is a major fundamental change in the concept of residential interiors and most widely used. Thus, the role of concealed false ceiling lights that are installed by cutting a hole in the false ceiling is very prevalent. Also cove lighting is thus widely used too. ALED flexible strip lighting is used for cove lighting which can come in various colours and types. With the many requirements that are fulfilled with these concealed

    

   false ceiling light nowadays that the role of tube lights and decorative lights have become limited. Decorative lights only now are used for enhancing the aesthetics and thus have become like a means of interior decoration. Tube lights are considered least preferred way of providing ambient lighting in the room. This I am mentioning with a perspective of urban modern homes. The use of tube lights and LED lamps are still most prevalent if we look at the whole industry and the country as a whole. But as we are talking about lighting design I will limit to the application and scenario in urban modern requirement where lighting design is required mostly.

2. Retail showroom lights

   In the world of aggressive marketing and business competition, each and every aspect of product selling and display is very important for the business success. Retail lighting has some basic principles that a retailer must keep in mind before planning for the lighting of their showroom which are given below:

   1. Defining the objective of retail lighting: A retailer should be aware and have clarity on the objectives of retail of lightingretail lighting which are often forgotten during the construction process. The retailers sometimes forget their objective of the whole showroom of maximum sales and focus more on just aesthetic appeal of the store which hold limited importance in boosting sales. The true objective of retail lighting are as follows:

      • Entice customers in store, further attract them to right corners and create an engaging atmosphere.

      • The product should be the star and should stand out of anything in the store.

      • Light should bring out the true beauty of the product helping the customer to evaluate the merchandise and make a quick purchase.

        These are the objectives of retail lighting and now let’s discuss how the below mentioned new trends help achieve them.

   2. Contrast lighting: This is the latest trend in retail lighting or product display lighting. Traditionally in the retail showroom, it was considered that well-lit showroom is good for the showroom and it enhances the outlook of the showroom. While the prudent thinking to this is if you have uniform lighting all across the showroom, then nothing stands out. On the other hand, if you have more light on the products rather than empty spaces this helps create an engaging atmosphere where customers are drawn to the product. The suggested ratio between light levels of product and empty spaces is 10:1 minimum, going up to 20:1. That is for an effective contrast lighting; make sure to have at least 10 times more light levels on the product rather than empty spaces.

       

       

      
      

       

       

      Retail showroom with uniform lighting where nothing stands out

       

       

      
      

       

      Retail showroom with contrast lighting which makes the product in a store stand out

   3. Colour and CRI of the light: Led colour and its quality hold huge importance in the effectiveness of the product

      display. The color shade, spectrum of the light and CRI are major factors as they can majorly influence the outlook of the product and in turn affect sales. Warmer light colour shades (in layman terms yellowish light) have more content of red ,yellow and similar colour light in their spectrum thus they are good for lighting such colour products. And vice versa the cooler light colour shades (in layman terms white light) have more content of blues, greens and similar colour shades thus are good for lighting similar colour products. Another important factor is the CRI of the light that is the Colour Rendering Index of the light. This means that the visible accuracy of colour’s shade and contrast of any product depends upon the CRI of the light it is viewed in. In simple terms, the higher the CRI of the light being used will result in a higher accuracy of colour shade and contrast of the product.

       

       

      
      

       

      Low CRI makes the product look less appealing to the customers

      

       

      High CRI led makes the look of the merchandise more appealing to the customers by bringing out the true beauty of the product

      A higher CRI light enhances the outlook of the product and thus helps in better sales conversion, thus always a higher CRI light should be used in retail showrooms. To simplify, I would like to mention some simple suggestions regarding this matter:

      Suggested use of light colour and CRI

       

      Type of Application	Colour of light	CRI of light
      Women clothing and fashion	3000k (Warm white)	90 CRI
      Men clothing and fashion	4000k (Natural white)	90 CRI
      Gold and colour stone jewelry	3000k (Warm white)	90 CRI
      Diamond jewelry	6500/7500 k
      Electronics and appliances	3000k (Warm white)	90 CRI

       

      Legend

       

      Code	Generic Name	Description
      3k(3000k)	Warm White	Colour shade close to an incandescent lamp.
      6k(6000k)/ 65k(6500k)	Cool white	colour similar to pure white light.
      4k (4000k)	Natural white	Colour shade between 3k and 6k like milky moon light
      75k (7500k)		Special LED which has bluish white tone.

       

3. Tunable & Dimmable Lights

   Another latest innovation in the lighting industry has been the development of tunable and dimmable lights. In simple terms, these lights have a function where you can adjust the colour temperature that is the colour of the light from 3000k (warm white) to 6500k(cool white). Moreover, you can also dim the light from 100 to 1 per cent. These are controlled wirelessly; thus, no setup is required and thus these are also a very smart system. You can group the lights together and operate them in whatever way you like. Prefixed scenes can be created and schedules can be set. There are various uses of this technology in various applications and areas . In homes, this gives the user flexibility and comfort of choosing any colour of light and any light level. This is very useful as it is a proven fact that the colour of light affects human behavior. Cool light makes you more active and warm yellow light helps you relax and is a recreational light. Thus, this system gives

    

   more flexibility to the customer. In retail showrooms also, this has a huge application. Many a time we have different products in one retail showroom that are better displayed in different colours of light. For example, in jewelry showroom, white light is needed for diamond & silver jewelry, while yellow warm light is best for coloured stones and gold jewelry.

   

    

   Tunable systems are wirelessly controlled with a remote control or mobile apps.

4. Track lighting systems

   This is a flexible system of lighting where we have a channel which has running power throughout its length, which means that any compatible light can be clipped on anywhere along the length of the track. Thus, this provides the flexibility to the customer to have the light focused on the area where he wants. This system has a huge application in the retail industry as the light layout can be altered as per the change in the product display.

    

   Another advantage of this system is that it is much easier to maintain and upgrade the lights. For example, in false ceiling light if you need to replace or upgrade the light you need a suitable light that matches the cut size in the ceiling. Thus, wherever possible, use the track lighting system to avail all these advantages.

5. Strip and Linear Aluminum Channel-Profile lighting

Strip lights are LED light on a flexible PCB. These can be cut at customisable length and run on standard constant voltage system which is easier to manage. These are used in many applications like for ceiling cove lighting and mostly accent purposes. Nowadays, a new system of linear aluminum profile system has been developed with the help of which flexible strip light system is used for various applications. The profile lighting system uses an aluminum section as the body of the light and has a diffuser to diffuse the light installed. These are widely used for their aesthetic looks and sleek designs. The various applications in which these profile lights are used are as follows:

• Office desk lighting

• Showcase lighting

• Wardrobe lighting

• Cabinet lighting

• Step lights

• Countertop lights in the kitchens

• Used to create lighted shelves

• Showroom display shelf lighting

• Floor embedded lights