Blog 6: Site Specific - The Irvine Spectrum [Bella Keegan]

On Friday night I was able to visit the Irvine Spectrum right before most of the stores closed at 10pm. Upon my arrival, I was surprised (yet not entirely shocked) at the fact that Christmas seemed to be full in swing. Ignoring the overly abundant Christmas lights decorating the outdoor shopping mall, the Spectrum is clearly intended to be a welcoming, yet somewhat upscale mall for families and teenagers to spend their weekends. This is seen in the beige colored buildings, white trims, and the fact that the place has a huge variety of offerings all ranging in price range. As far as lighting design goes and how it emphasizes this concept of serving the upper-middle class, all of the store signs were bright with generally a yellow or white back glow or front light, and most stores were lit with warmer tones. For the outside of the stores, there were generally light circles within the ground that bounced off of the walls of the store fronts. Having this theme throughout most of the stores helped to unify them and make them all feel cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing. Pictured below is the environment I experienced.

As a deep dive into the Spectrum's lighting, a store I felt like did a particularly poor job fitting into the theme established was Urban Outfitters. Now don't get me wrong: the lighting at Urban Outfitters really suited the brand. In the picture below, you can see that the store felt somewhat overexposed, with big windows and big lighting fixtures inside of the store. The lighting appeared bright and very cool in color and tone which works entirely for the brand (retro & nostalgic, yet cool). However, its relation in regards to lighting to the other stores within the Spectrum was extremely poor. The store felt too well lit in comparison to other stores, and everything felt cold and not nearly as warm and inviting as everything else. Furthermore, the lighting on the outside of the building was so harshly contrasting in both color and in terms of the fixture that they felt like two different worlds. The store sign was also really hard to read while it was dark was nothing was lighting it or helping to emphasize it besides the actual lights inside the store.

On the opposite end of the spectrum (in terms or stores with lighting that complimented the purpose of the Spectrum), Blk Dot coffee's lighting was really well done. The lighting fell into this concept of clean, warm tones while feeling extremely inviting and comforting. I stopped at this store and felt beckoned in by how well lit it looked, and how the lights seemed to compliment the wood being used as well as the white columns of the already established spectrum. In comparison to the last store, everything appears to be well lit and the sign truly makes the store stand out while maintaining it in the upper-middle class theming of the spectrum.

Looking at different stores and how their lighting can hinder my perception of them was really interesting, and I well definitely be paying more attention to wether or not things fit within the realm/world that they exist in.