Visual Merchandising Display - Fairchild Books

Fluorescent Lighting
Some retail operations are illuminated by rows of fluorescent
fixtures that span the length or width of the store. The
fluorescent fixture is usually the least expensive and most
efficient fixture to use from the point of initial cost, cost
of energy, and length of lamp life. Although it is often the
popular choice for the contractor to install and the retailer
to maintain, it is not always the best choice for many categories
of merchandise. Fluorescent lamps can produce a
flat, even, and stultifying blanket of light that offers few
shadows and provides little depth or textural interest. There
are degrees of “warmth” and “coolness” available in fluorescent
lamps, from the rosy quality of “warm white deluxe”
to the blue of “cool white deluxe”—with many gradations
in between.
The merchandise—or the general type of merchandise
to be presented under the lighting—should be tested
under the various types of light bulbs. No one type or
Figure 4.3 A good lighting plan includes many lighting techniques
and utilizes a variety of lamps or bulbs. Shown here are recessed
floodlights for the ambient light; fluorescents in the raised ceiling
area, to wash the focal architectural element; and drop, or pendant,
lights to accentuate an area in the rear. Around the Shoes, Tokyo.
Design: Nishiwaki Design Group, Tokyo.
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P a r t 1 : G e t t i n G S ta r t e d — V i S u a l M e r c h a n d i S i n G a n d d i S P l ay B a S i c S
Figure 4.4 The red-tinted fluorescent tubes are recessed under the
fascia, along the perimeter walls. The tubes wash the upper wall
area and lend a dramatic and sexy look to the space. The floating
plastic panel, center, is illuminated with clear fluorescent tubes and,
as it looms out from the black painted ceiling, dramatizes the space.
Lipsy, London. Design: JHP Design Consultants, London.
color will enhance everything, but the one that is generally
most flattering should be chosen. Some merchandise,
like diamonds, silver, kitchen supplies, and maybe even
furs, may look scintillating in the brittle light of cool
fluorescent, but customers and salespeople may appear
drained, haggard, and generally washed out in that same
lighting. A sparkling white diamond on black velvet may
seem all fire and ice, but it would be hard to sell if the
finger onto which a ring is slipped, or the neck that a
necklace caresses, looked waxy or marred by blemishes.
Therefore, a soft, glowing incandescent lamp, placed near
a mirror, will enhance the customer’s skin tones as she
looks at herself bejeweled. Even if the diamond itself, at