White light technology used in hospitality to attract customers during lockdown
Business owners across Australia have been scrambling to find ways to recover from the severe impact of coronavirus restrictions, as the country emerges from one of the most disastrous financial crises in our lifetime.
Vying for foot traffic, some businesses have made a modest but significant investment in signage, and inadvertently, the science of light.
Signage has been a central way to indicate to passersby that a store is open for business. But it turns out there’s more to it than a nice design - there is science behind attracting and drawing the eye. Cold white light.
Cold white light has been found to be effective in treating Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), with light boxes used to mimic natural sunlight. The patient is exposed to a bright light within the first hour of waking up every day and studies have shown it can cause a change in the brain’s chemicals, improving mood.
‘Different types of light evoke different reactions in the brain,’ says Michael Toweel, CEO of signage company, VitrineMedia.
‘Cold white light engages the brain in a way that warm yellow light just doesn’t. That’s a great light for relaxing, but if you want to grab attention, you want cold white light which illuminates very successfully. That’s why it’s used in aquariums.
‘We use that same principle with our signs. The cold white light sitting behind a sign will make it pop and stand out from a long way away because it engages the brain.’
Mr Toweel has worked with businesses in Sydney and Melbourne to tap into that science which has proven especially fruitful during stage three and four lockdown.
Read more about the white light technology used here.
VitrineMedia, 25th November 2020
