How to Buy Lighting

Too often, key pieces like desks, shelves, and chairs overshadow lighting choices. This is a shame, because light does more than let you see the way to the conference room. Proper office lighting should be central in space design. Light can make a space seem warm and inviting, or it can reinforce a cool, businesslike environment.

Buying office lighting starts with posing important questions and considering the must-have features to find the solution that will light up your life — or at least your workspace.

Lighting Must-haves

• Convenience. Bypass inconvenient lamps with hard-to-find on-off switches. Opt for options such as pull chains and base switches.
• Brightness Options. Because different times of the day call for different amounts of light, look for lamps with multiple brightness options.
• Adjustment Controls. Consider the type of adjustment controls you might need. A lamp with a multi-pivoting neck allows you to precision-tune the placement of the light for certain tasks or to lessen glare.
• Style.Add into the lighting equation your office style and theme. There are many options available, so there’s no need to sacrifice aesthetic.

Lighting Options

Office lighting options go beyond a simple on-off switch or a desk task lamp.

Dimmable Task Lights

• Business lighting can be overly bright and harsh. A good middle ground is a dimmable task light, or a task light with various brightness settings, to ease eye strain.
• Take your work space lighting to the next level with Safco’s Vamp LED lighting, available at Source.
• Vamp’s flicker-free, energy efficient glow comes in eight brightness settings and gives you a choice of four warm and four cool colours.
• The multi-pivot flexible neck lets you direct light where you need it, and a convenient USB port on the lamp base puts charging power right on your work surface.

Lighting for Overhead Storage

• If you’re going with hutches, a shelf for overhead storage, consider using a hutch-mounted task light under the unit.
• Source’s Performance LED Task Lights are 24 inches, and they can be fitted to most hutches.
• These lamps can be fastened to wood, laminate, and metal products.

Lighting for Wardrobes or Storage Units

• Sensor mounted LED lighting is available.
• There is also a really nifty gadget from ESI, a manufacturer to which Source has access. It turns off a lamp if no motion is detected for 15 minutes, and it resumes last brightness setting when motion is detected

Keep in Mind that Lights Affect Health

As you light shop, consider that lighting is also an important part of keeping your employees healthy.

• Dim lighting can cause drowsiness and eye strain.
• More commonly, harsh lighting leaves employees with severe headaches and increased stress.
• The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety reports that “appropriate lighting, without glare or shadows, can reduce eye fatigue and headaches” and can also reduce or prevent workplace accidents.

Source Can Help You See the Light

Source stocks lights from Performance Furnishings and Safco, but thanks to its various industry relationships that ensure your office needs are met, we also have access to many other options from manufacturers such as Humanscale and ESI. Visit one of our 12 locations to get out of the dark.