Most of us know how energized and happy we feel on a beautiful, bright sunny day. Our indoor lighting can have the same effect on us. Lights come in a spectrum of “colors”, some are more yellow like a cloudy day to the other extreme some give off a bluer hue. In between there is a light that more closely resembles “daylight”. Some people call these “happy lights”.
Last night I was at an event with a woman who had been at a meeting earlier in the day with me and I had talked about how lighting can affect our outlook and mood. She had been to a Dr.’s office midday and told me that she felt so good and calm and then looked at the wonderful lighting in the office and realized that it was the difference maker in how she was feeling. I was pleased to hear as this was an office that we take care of the lighting in.
As we enter the fall season and our days are getting shorter we have customers requesting these “happy lights”, we have many customers who comment on how much better they feel because of their new lighting. Lights can make you happy!
Lighting is more than just replacing a lamp or ballast, it also has to do with color. We have just helped Sterling Graphics with a move into a new space. The kelvin temperature and CRI of the lamps they use are very important for their graphics business as they must have exact color matching ability.
The kelvin temperature is often referred to as the color appearance of the light source – is it cool and crisp or warm and cozy? This is a number system that ranges from 2700-6500. CRI or color rendering index is the ability of the light source to reflect back to the eye the colors we expect to see in an object, this is ranked on a scale of 0 to 100. Clear daylight is considered as a reference point of 100.
Some of the other businesses that we have helped that require accurate attention to these 2 factors are Dentists, auto body repair shops, craft and paint stores. Lighting matters!
