What drives me the craziest is when I walk into a space and see a rainbow of light when all of the lights are technically white.
The problem with color temperature consistency is that there is no standardization that regulates how manufacturers are creating their phosphors for the LEDs. This results in a varying appearance in color. You can have several manufacturers who all claim to have a neutral 3000K color temperature but when you look more closely at them all together, you can start to see some shifts in what that “white” light actually appears to be. You can often see pink hues and green hues in the white light.
One instance where this becomes an issue is when you have retro-fit lamps that are replaced as they fail throughout their lifespan. They will be replaced by whoever is in charge of maintenance and not always will be replaced with the original manufacturer. As the lights are changed out and some are left alone, you can start seeing a shift in the appearance of color almost like a rainbow of white. It can become very distracting and draw away from the polished look of a complete design.
One thing I strive to maintain on a project is consistency. A great lighting design concept will ideally have a series of layered lighting. This leads to having multiple light sources in one space and can open you up to potentially having various hues of the same color temperature. To try and mitigate that, I try to stay within the same manufacturer when possible. It’s helpful to find out which LED is being used to try and keep within consistency if you have to switch across various manufacturers. Another thing I keep in mind when I’m considering how light will be rendered is the types of materials. If I have varying materials within a space, the differences in color temperature are not as noticeable as they are in a room where all of the surfaces are white.
Knowing how light will effect materials is one of the most important roles a lighting designer has. It is important to test out fixtures and have mockups when you can.
