Week 10: Irvine Spectrum

Irvine Spectrum is in many ways like any other outdoor shopping mall — and yet it stands out for a few key reasons. The designers at Irvine Spectrum paid special attention to the overall atmosphere of the center, which makes it a pleasant stroll from one plaza to the next. It is especially cheery at this time of year, as the entire place has been decorated for the holidays. Because of this detail, the center's atmosphere has become somewhat brighter and more colorful, as pictured in Figure 1.

Figure 1

For the well-lit store, I chose a particular favorite of mine — See's Candies. What I liked about this store was that it was the brightest store in its general vicinity. See's pays particular attention to the lighting in its store; everything is clean and white, and the light is energetic and welcoming. I appreciate that See's stores are all lit in the same fashion, and so there is a general consistency that one comes to expect from them, which is helpful for the product they are trying to sell. When I think of See's, I think of that consistency and inviting energy. Notice the inviting light the store front exudes (Figure 2), and the attention to detail within the shelves, and on the walls (Figures 3 & 4). A bright, even ceiling light washes over the displays, the checkered floor, and the white walls. Frankly, I found it hard not to buy anything.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 2

As I strolled through the Spectrum, seeking out my poorly lit example, I almost couldn't believe how lucky I was to find one so atrociously lit as the Charlotte Russe. I immediately went inside, expecting the interior light to be a different (and more flattering) temperature than the one in the display (Figures 6 & 7), and was somewhat surprised to find the the unflattering yellow light that shown in the window display was all over the store, and the only source of light (Figures 8 & 9). There was almost no one in the store, and the lonely clothes gave off an ugly glow as the yellow light reflected all over the white walls and flow, making the mannequins look a sickly green (Figure 10).

Figure 6

Figure 8

Figure 10

Figure 7

Just as a little bonus (because it's my favorite part of the Spectrum) is the super large Edwards Cinemas (Figure 11). I'm adding this because it's so stylized and clearly designed, evoking the color and excitement of 80s cineplexes. The bright blues and pinks of the neon sign are so fun, that I couldn't leave them out.

Figure 11

Week 10: Site Specific - Irvine Spectrum Center

Week 10: Site Specific — Spectrum Center

I had been to the Irvine Spectrum Center a few times in my first couple of weeks here— checking out the closest “mall”, and of course getting stuff to set up my apartment from Target, and my first reaction was just the realization that most things here in California are outdoors. Mostly the malls are open-air, not necessarily strip malls, but not traditional inside malls (like South Coast). Going again recently, and in the evening with exterior lighting, and of course decorated for the holidays, I got an entirely new impression of the place. Aside from being outdoors, the entire shopping complex feels like its own world. The tan colors of all the buildings (like most of Irvine) feel corporate, and yet soothing. Everything is low, spread apart, and yet winding. You can never see that far ahead of you, and everything feels similar. It sort of reminded me of a resort or country club kind of thing. It’s classy but not too fancy. There’s a ferris wheel and a carousel. There are not only lots of stores, but lots of restaurants and a movie theatre. Going there isn’t just about shopping, it’s about the whole event. It’s a destination to visit and spend time. Which is why I think they want it to feel like a classy vacation, as opposed to just a place to do business. They want you to feel comfortable (lots of places to sit, trees) they want you to stay (have a meal, watch a movie), they want the full family to be there (rides, an arcade), and stores for every kind of person. The lighting helps to tell this story in a few ways. The carousel and ferris wheel are lit up— that makes them an attraction, a centerpiece of focus. It really makes it feel more like a theme park and an event, not just functional. They’re entertainment. The movie theater is covered in neon lights, which really gives it an element of spectacle. The water features are lit up as well, so they’re not just pretty, they’re an attraction. The open bulbs along walkways, suspended on strings, in door ways— they all really make it feel like an event. The trees have lights on them, almost like spotlights, uprights showcasing their height. Nothing is not given attention to. Everything is lit up, so there is always something to look at, always something deserving of focus. Most generic strip malls I can think of have lights that are just functional: light up the walkways between stores, light up the store signs. But the prevalence of open bulbs really gives it a classy vibe and the feel of it being an event. Almost Hollywood-y, as a marquee (I’m actually surprised thinking back that I didn’t really see any chase effects). On top of that, being in the holiday season, things were even more lit up. Which often lived in the world of “Christmas lights”, so (a) it felt decorated, and (b) it felt like even more of an event, with all the more reason to shop and spend more money. Overall, I think the curation of the lighting here is very successful; it makes it classy, it feels like an event/party, and it puts you in an especially festive holiday mood this time of year. 

Walking by the store Things Remembered, my eye was drawn by how sparkly everything looked. As a memento store, nothing here is really necessary to buy, but rather it’s about little knick knacks that people might want to collect. As such, it has to feel especially fun and special. It has to feel pretty. You have to sell people on how charming and sweet and important these little things are. As such, the lighting was mostly little track lights along the ceiling. But rather than the usual harsh track lighting, the bulbs all gave off a very warm glow— maybe it was the bulb, maybe the lamp type, maybe even coloration, but it all felt warm and homey. But, the use of the track lighting almost gave every area, every setup, some sort of special spotlight just on it. It gave special attention to a display, as if the light was made just for that. And more, many of the objects in the store were shiny, and they picked angle to that the light really caught that, and made everything seem to sparkle. I didn’t even intentionally look at the store, but it was all that sparkling that caught my eye. Everything lit up, everything was drawing my attention, and everything then looked precious and sweet. This adds to the name being about memories, and it almost made me think of glimmers of memory, appearing out of the darkness of our mind. That magical glimpse of how wonderful something is… and of course things are always better in memory than they were in real life. 

Chilli Beans, on the other hand, I noticed for how empty and off-putting the lighting was. On the one hand, the light felt much bluer than all the other stores. Almost industrial, cold, clinical, to the point where it made me feel uneasy. It was so inhuman. And it was dimmer in there as well, so it didn’t have the bright and at least clear lighting of other more industrial/clinical stores (like a Walmart or something, which also feels cold and inhuman, but at least it’s bright and you can see everything). It was hard to see. It almost felt like walking in there would have been walking into a freezer. In general, I don’t think that would have been a successful lighting for any store, but it seemed even stranger to me when I saw that one of their two main items was sunglasses. It was dark and cold in there— sunglasses are when it is warm and bright. I would want it to feel sunny, beachy, fun… and this felt the opposite. Their other main item is watches, which I guess is less troubling, but even then, watches feel like a classy thing to buy, and you need to be able to see them. And the coolness didn’t feel businessy, it felt more distancing. It was distractingly different from all the other stores in the mall, and I didn’t even want to go inside to see what was there. 

I never would have though to analyze lighting in a more “normal” location like a mall, or stores. It didn’t even occur to me that this could be considered a “themed venue”. But it certainly is, and from taking this class, it has opened my eyes up to seeing more of what light does to us as viewers of things and events, and how light supports everything that we experience. Even more that setting the mood, it truly tells the story and puts you in a world, with so many more considerations than I had previously thought about. 

Week 10 Irvine Spectrum

This weekend after New Slate I was able to go to the Irvine Spectrum. My favorite time of the year is to see all the Christmas decorations lighting up the entire place. There were Christmas lights wrapping around all the trees, and snow flake installations that light up the path. It makes the Spectrum brighter than it was at night before the holidays. I always wondered how much time it takes for them to wrap up those palm trees with Christmas lights. They embodied the festivities of the holidays and decorated all the lanes and all the trees. The lights create a lovely and festive atmosphere. With the amber lights, it makes it feel warm and welcoming for the holidays.















I have always had a growing hatred towards the lighting for "Charlotte Russe". The picture doesn't show it as much, but the lighting in person is very yellow. It made all the clothing look sickly and old. At first I thought it was just the window area that was yellow, but the entire store had the same lighting fixtures. It even made the employee's in the store look yellow. Usually I would prefer amber lighting over white LED, or incandescent lighting. The sickly yellow ruins the outfits, and makes the whole atmosphere feel uncomfortable. If the lighting was switched to something more amber, it will compliment the clothing better, and wouldn't be as drastic compared to the florescent lighting in the store. 

The store that I was visually drawn to was "Garage". The purple clouds lit with LED's inside made the window look colorful and vibrant. It created a theme, and a atmosphere that "Charlotte Russe" didn't. The light hitting the manikins created a sense of sunlight through the clouds.  Although it could have been even more realistic if the light came through a steeper angle instead of being right above the manikins.. Compared to "Charlotte Russe", " Garage" has more character to it, and advertises their winter clothing better by simulating a cloudy and chilly day.
  

Week 10 - Irvine Spectrum

A few days ago, I went to the Irvine Spectrum. Upon walking into the main shopping area, I immediately noticed the holiday lights everywhere. Almost all the trees were covered in lights, which made the place even brighter than it usually is. This uplifted the mood of the area, giving it the "merry and bright" feeling. I also think the brightness disguises the fact that it's dark/nighttime outside, giving shoppers the impression that they have more time to shop. The focal point of this particular area of the mall is the large Christmas tree in the center, which was the only thing that had colored lights that changed every few seconds. I think this gave the area a sense of community - a "gathering place" of sorts for people to come together and shop. Overall I think this worked well, especially since there was Christmas music playing everywhere. The visual elements of the mall matched the aural elements.

A store that I thought had unsuccessful lighting was Honey and Butter, a macaron shop. The store is currently doing a collaboration with TokiDoki, a Japanese brand that features various colorful cartoon characters. I thought the lighting was unsuccessful because it did not reflect the fun and happy feeling that one would get when seeing these characters or eating sweet desserts. One half of the store was brightly lit. This was on the left side, where the macarons were and in the back wall where the TokiDoki wallpaper was. I thought that was great because customers are able to see all the fun designs of the macarons and they are able to take photos in front of the wall. However, on the other half of the store, the lighting was extremely dim. This was unfortunate because there was other TokiDoki merchandise on this side and I didn't even bother looking at them. It didn't seem like it was worth my time because I didn't want to spend the time browsing through items in the dark. Because of the dim lighting, it made the overall appearance of the store look unappealing from the outside. I felt like it was hard to see what was on the inside, especially because of the clutter of the TokiDoki window decals, which seemed to blend it with the darkness in the background.

On the other hand, a store that I thought was successful was the Adidas store. I passed by this store at the end of the day and I was pretty tired from walking around. My eye was immediately drawn to the store because of how bright it was and when I walked in, I felt instantly awake. I thought this worked well for the Adidas store since it sells athletic apparel and the lights gave the entire store (and me) a high energy feeling. I also appreciated how along with the general lighting, there were individual spotlights that were focused on all the shelves and racks. This pulled the focus to all the products in the store and I felt like I wanted to look through everything. I think the brightness also gave the entire store a pristine look, which made the clothing and shoes look clean and neat. 

Week 10 - Spectrum

←1. Entrance Photo

I made it to the Irvine spectrum just after Thanksgiving. Already the transformed into Christmas. I really wanted to focus on element that are there all year long first before evaluating the season decorations. Right from the entrance the lights are inviting war and enhance the depth of the shopping center. As you walk in to the center you notice all the texture of the buildings and the walk ways. This too in enhanced by light.

←2. Wall Lights

 In many other other center lighting the walkways are don by light post or even floor lights, bu here they are against walls and highlighting the texture of the palms, walls, fountains, ferris wheel. All of the placements of these lights feel inviting and pull the shopper deeper into the center.  This is very smart marketing and designing. It gives the sense of wealth and extenuates all of the expensive stone work. It also pulls you in, you may have just come to the center for lunch but with all of the lights (glittes and glam) around every corner it is hard not to check out what's going on over there. This makes the area family friendly, very well light entertainment round every corner and things to catch your eye so your children will drag you around the center yelling "whats that, whats that".
←3. Carousel
While the center as a whole is designed very well there are a few areas that fall distract for it success.




UNSUCCESSFUL 

← 4. Claire Store Front
This little shop is one of the most unsuccessful store front and inside in the center. "Claire's" an expensive 'Tween' accessory store looks like it was accidentally plopped in its place. The short early 90's stucco front with bright florescent wash inside really are not appeasing. When passing the store you can hardly tell what is on display since the lights are so stark compared to the surrounding area. Once entering the store it did not get any better.

5. Claire's Interior→

The store is crammed pack full of nick knacks and nothing is drawing focus. It looks like a bargain store with no thought put into it. This is completely contrasting to the center, where it seems that every light has a purpose and creates an expensive atmosphere.






SUCCESSFUL

←6. Lucky Brand Store Front


There were many stores that were much more successful than "Claire's".  One in particular was "Lucky Brand". this store had clean line, warm soft yet effective lighting, and the hanging bulbs that make the store look deep and spacious. The store name is light with a blue light bring the shopper eyes up to their name with out pulling away or distracting from the inviting store lights.





←7. Lucky Brand Interior
Once you enter the space you will notice that there is fun tin ceiling treatment that reflect light through out the store with out blinding the costumers. This seems to give the store more light with out having to use harsh fluorescent. The store is actually not very big but the hanging lights and texture draw the costumers to the back of the store. Al in all it was very successful - so much so I ended up in there for an hour and spending money - not even needing anything!

Week 10: Site Specific Blog: Irvine Spectrum

My friends and I went to Irvine Spectrum last weekend, and when we got there I noticed right away all the string lights wrapped around the trees and hanging from the canopies, which gave the whole shopping center a very festive vibe. I observed the lights as my friends and I walked around, and I could see that there were lamps all along the sides of the stores, which provided enough light to see clearly, but they weren’t so bright that they hurt my eyes or took away from the lights of the store names. There were also floor lights and low wall lights in some sections of the shopping center that added to the visibility, and overall the lighting gave the place a very relaxed, casual, and welcoming feeling.


There were also some areas of Spectrum that had a snowflake template in a moving light from high above, and I thought the resulting snowflake-shaped light on the ground was pretty cute.

The only thing that confused me was that there were some lights aimed at the ground that changed color. They seemed pretty randomly placed, and I wasn’t really sure what they were for. If they were supposed to be for Christmas, they didn’t really add to the Christmas mood; the colors morphed between saturate reds, greens, blues, and purples, and to me they just looked like a jarring circle of light on the ground.


I thought the lighting in The Cheesecake Factory was not successful. I couldn’t even tell what the overall theme was supposed to be, but the lighting just didn’t seem right. When I stepped in, everything inside seemed very dark and also very warm. My phone’s camera didn’t capture it completely, but the lights along the wall were very orange. I felt that the lighting was so dark that it would be difficult to see the food, and the green lights by the seats (which, by the way, looked even worse in person) really confused me. I had no idea what the objective of that was. I guess it combated the warmth from the other lights a little bit, but it also gave the seating area a sickly feel and ruined any romantic atmosphere they may have been going for, which really doesn’t seem ideal for a restaurant in particular. My friend even said that the green lights reminded her of slime.

On the other hand, the lighting in Pressed Juicery caught my eye as my friends and I walked past it. Their counters and signs were white and their back wall was mostly natural looking wood, so the theme of the store seemed to be crisp and minimalistic. The ceiling lights provided visibility and gave the small store a very bright, clean, and crisp feeling, which went well with their rather minimalistic layout and aesthetic. The store also had some small hanging lights which didn’t seem to provide any visibility, but appeared instead to give off a down-to-earth and cozy vibe, which went well with their marketed-as-healthy product. Overall I thought the lighting in this store was very successful.

Taking this class has definitely made me more aware of the lighting design in stores and other everyday places that I go! :)

Week 9 - Full Moon

I took this photo earlier tonight because the full moon caught my eye while I was walking outside. Although this photo doesn't really capture it well, the moon was pretty big. It was also surrounded by clouds, which made it seem to disappear and reappear in the sky. Because it was nighttime and pretty cold, I got a scary, ominous feeling from the moon. I felt like this was the type of moon you'd see at the beginning of a horror film. The clouds definitely supported this feeling because there was an added sense of mystery whenever they would pass over the moon, thus making the sky change from bright to dim. Usually the moon is the only source of light at night, so when it gets covered up, a sense of uncertainty and darkness is created. This especially did not help my situation, as I was walking alone and the area was mostly empty. My mind filled with different images of scary scenarios that could've happened to me.