Archive for the ‘ Lighting Quality ’ Category

OPTIMAL LUMINANCE OF INTERNALLY ILLUMINATED SIGNAGE

For wayfinding signage it is essential that the sign is conspicuous and that the messages it contains are legible. This study investigated the optimal luminance for internally lit wayfinding signs in Swiss railway stations. The results demonstrated first, that increasing the light output of the LEDs inside the sign improved conspicuousness of the signage against its surroundings, and second, that considerable improvement of the signage’s legibility could only be observed until its white text reached a luminance of 100 cd/m2. Hence, for internally illuminated signage in general indoor situations, a luminance of 100 cd/m2 is recommended. Very high luminances should be avoided because even if conspicuity is improved, legibility might worsen.

PREFERRED LED LIGHTING FOR WOOD SURFACES AND COLORED SURFACES

Recent work concerning preferred LED lighting for interior materials was presented at the AIC conference in Tokyo. Therewith an earlier publication „Influence of lighting conditions on the appearance of typical interior materials“ is followed up. Preferred visual appearance iswas accessed for a set of 12 colors taken from the Natural Color System (NCS) catalog and a set of 8 types of wood surfaces. The results of the study demonstrates that certain hues fit better to lighting with higher correlated color temperature (cooler light) and other hues fit better to lighting with lower CCT (warmer light). The observed reactions to wood surfaces lead to the assumption that mainly hue determines the correlated light temperature of the LED light source that is preferred.

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APPEARANCE OF TYPICAL INTERIOR MATERIALS

Scientific publication „Influence of lighting conditions on the appearance of typical interior materials“ by Dr. Ruta Lasauskaite Schüpbach, Markus Reisinger und Björn Schrader is published in Color Research & Application. The article reports two experiments that investigated how lighting influences perception of various materials. The first experiment shows that cool color temperature of the light source is preferred for materials of blue color (cold hue). Warm color temperature of the light source is preferred for materials of warm hue materials and those materials that have natural reference (e.g., grass). The second study shows that materials tend to appear softer under LED light source compared to other light sources in our setup. Finally, future directions in this research area are discussed.

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