Pscological effects of lighting on retail design

jesus i was in a shop there the other day and i started feeling queezy, jesus now that i tink of it it must have been the green lighting!

On a serious note I think you are approaching a crucial element of interior design that is often over looked,ah just stick 25 halogen spot lights in a grid fashion on the ceiling and shazam youve got a lit shop. 😮

What do shoppers do when they go into the shop? they look at the merchindice which should have lit by task lighting of a different level to the ambiant lighting. When walking past a shop you could be inticed into it just by the design of the shop like in Muji off grafton street.

I suppose different colours do evoke different mental emotions, like cool greens or blues ,hot reds or oranges and different intencitys.Lifestyle sports have recently had a shop face lift in the jervis centre and have incorperated light as a material in the wall behind the runners a design i came up with my self years ago id like to say!!

anywayz best of look with the dissertation!

@karen wrote:

hello i am doing my thesis on the pscological effects of lighting on retail design, and wonder if any one has any ideas or thoughts on this topic, i would look forward to any ideas or suggections

I remember seeing a book a few years back on the psychological (better spell the title right!!) effects of paint colours – it was interesting in that it set out colours eg in restaurants that made people hungry etc. I’m sure the same can be applied to lighting

Karen,

If you are based in Ireland why don’t you take Bewleys on Grafton St as a case study and apply a standard high St retailer’s lighting requirements to a heritage property situated on a prime retail High St?

@Diaspora wrote:

Karen,

If you are based in Ireland why don’t you take Bewleys on Grafton St as a case study and apply a standard high St retailer’s lighting requirements to a heritage property situated on a prime retail High St?

never misses a trick!

@karen wrote:

i wonder would you remember the name of teh book and the author

Interior Colour by Design
~Sandy Ragan (Editor) – it’s available through Amazon

Another interesting web site is

http://www.paintcafe.com/en/couleur/langage/psychologie/bleu.asp

Do you get an edit note on a thread title if you go back and edit it? (to put the ‘y’ into the ‘psychological’ of this one). It’s kind of irritating looking at this misspelling in the thread lists :rolleyes:

On more a serious note, I’ve noticed a rake of new Centras have opened around town in recent months – Westland Row, College Green, Wicklow Street, Merrion Row, Stephen’s Green…, and the volume of store lighting they’re using is even greater than ever before for convenience stores. They are nearly blinding when you walk in….and the light pollution that’s spilling onto the street…. I think the DCC planners are falling down here in their controlling of light volumes used, and especially as some or most of the shops would be in Protected Structures or located in Conservation Areas, where lighting should be in restrained and harmony with the character of the building/area. I think I will write a letter to DCC about it.

Just after passing Centra on the Green there – you’d need sunglasses during the day just to look at the place 😎 That’s better.
The one on Westland Row is the worst; it is vulgar in the extreme after dark, in marked contrast to the new coffee place nearby which has lovely muted lighting.

River Island on Grafton St takes the biscuit though – indeed something of a talking point with Christmas shoppers.
Don’t know whether to hate it or admire their audacity.

Karen,
Lighting is just one element used by retailers to entice you in and make you buy, music and positioning of goods are also factors and would need to be referred to in your thesis as one element does not work alone but rather in conjunction with other crafty measures. The usual high street retailers (UK) have clear practices in this regard and it might be worthwhile getting on to the big retailers – eg Burton Group (debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, TopShop etc).

I see there’s a Centra ‘coming soon’ to Capel St now.
So as was coined here before, sadly Sparification is now so last year – Centralisation is the way forward 🙁

I really despise those pukey pastels so favoured by them now in their new colour scheme, no doubt just a personal thing – but I think it looks as cheap as chips.