Cool white

There is no place in this world for cool white light bulbs. You'll be forgiven for having white light in a learning environment – schools and universities for example. Generally then the bulbs are diffused and create a general daylight wash, likely to help learners stay awake. But in any other application white bulbs create a world of ghouls and ghosts, highlighting all blemishes on faces and whatever you're selling, be it products or hospitality. Worse, cool white but not enough cool white. So it's still kinda dull, but with added grey skies. A wide-reaching sports retailer leaning towards lower-tier streetwear sneakers should have its marquee Sandton City store as somewhere people would want to visit. Instead (and this is a real place), the cold white lights foggily highlight the edges of the shop; products on their own bright and colourful, now softened, desaturated and drab. The air is dark and white at the same time, like walking out of an all-night party, the icy dawn light revealing the ugly truth. It's not pretty.

There is one level worse than all-cool-white. Restaurants are often the culprit with this one: some white bulbs and some warm bulbs. A mix. This is tectonic-level laziness, and any restaurant space which outsourced the purchase and replacement task to a junior team member, and was absolutely un-arsed to check the job was satisfactorily done, should be avoided. It should be highlighted as an example of hands-off management. A mix of cool white and warm white bulbs? You might as well have spiderwebs around the POS; you're not going to last.

It's not actually hard. Change the bulbs for warm white. Light bulb manufacturers thought they were being very nifty calling the bulbs "cool white" and "warm white" when in fact there should be no "white" whatsoever. W-A-R-M. That's all we want. And the warmer the better. Yes, products need to shine and be made the hero everyone wants to buy. There are exceptional lighting systems available which provide sun-bright luminescence, all the while conveying come-home-with-me cosiness. For those shops or restaurants without the means to employ a fitting lighting designer, here are the rules for your visit to Lighting Warehouse: you need to only buy the ones, usually with an orange band on the side, which say 2700K. That's the main number you need to know. Yes, lumens mean brightness, and that's important too. But don't go near the boxes that say 4000K and heavens, no, please absolutely reject anything near 5000K to 6500K. You will be allowed back in the room, that is the room in which you might sell something to somebody, when you use a bulb of 3000K, but even then, that is heading toward shimmery territory. Go for 2700K, please. And when you install them in your shop or space, and see the different temperatures emanating from the bulbs already there, please count the old ones up and head back out to make sure you have enough of exactly the same bulbs, plus spares, to place in each and every fitting you own.

And there you have it, one change and a million times better. Show how much you care. Good lighting, and a customer will generally not notice. Bad lighting, and generally your business will not be noticed.

And while you're at it, please check the bulbs in your own home. You owe it to yourself. Remember, warm is the way, cool is for cucumbers.