What color is it, really??

So you're going shopping.  You have some fun money to spend or you're in search of the perfect outfit for an event coming up.  You think about where you want to go, how much you want to spend, and if you need new shoes...But I know what you haven't thought of.  Does the color of the lighting in the store you're going to shop in really matter?  Have you thought about if their lighting will affect how colors appear to you?  How they look with your skin tone?

 

Ever tried on and found the perfect pair of black pants only to find out when you got home that they were in fact really dark blue?  And the last time you checked you weren't color blind.

 

Ever spent an hour getting a makeover in a high end cosmetics store or navigated the labyrinth of department store counters looking for the perfect shade of foundation and when you looked at yourself out in the sunlight, clearly the skin care consultant missed your olive undertones!?

So much time and money wasted because of poorly designed lighting.  And to add insult to injury you have to waste time returning your ill-purchased products in hopes of getting all of your money back.  Who has time for that??

Not only does this waste your time and could waste your money but what kind of experience was it?  Good?  Bad? For sure, irritating. You may have had the most helpful sales associate.  You may have found great deals.  But not getting what you paid for really affects your opinion of the retailer, to be sure.  If they really cared about your shopping experience, about how you spend your time and about how you spend your money, would they really allow bad lighting to showcase their products in their dressing rooms or on their sales floors?  Would they knowingly hire lighting consultants and electrical engineers who don't know or care about the customer experience? 

At Larson Binkley this is the only thing we think about when considering the light colors, levels and placement of lights in the retail dressing rooms and in the retail spaces we design.  Consumers have the right to know that what they are looking at in the mirror is an accurate representation of what those pants or that dress will look like then they get them home.  Cosmetics are very personal, and sometimes UNRETURNABLE once opened so the quickest way to lose a woman's brand loyalty is to sell her something that doesn't make her feel fabulous. 

Taking the time and using our expertise to correctly light a space is a matter of responsibility and honoring the customer's time, money and experience in the store.  It's part of making the shopper comfortable.  It's what we do.  We are constantly looking for ways to live up to our commitment of "Perfecting Comfort to Optimize Human Experience" in every building and retail space we design.  We are Larson Binkley.  Engineering a better experience.

www.larsonbinkley.com