Innstillinger for informasjonskapsler

Velg innstillinger og lagre dem, eller les merom informasjonskapsler.

Nødvendige informasjonskapsler

Bidrar til at nettstedet vårt fungerer som det skal for deg som besøker det. Derfor kan de ikke slås av.

Funksjonelle informasjonskapsler

Brukes for å gi deg en god opplevelse når du besøker nettstedet vårt, for eksempel ved å huske hvilke dokumenter du har lagt i en dokumentsamling.

Analytiske informasjonskapsler

Hjelper oss blant annet med å lage statistikk og besøksmønstre, slik at vi kan forbedre tjenestene våre basert på hvordan du bruker dem.

Vi bruker informasjonskapsler Vi bruker informasjonskapsler for at du skal få en best mulig opplevelse når du besøker nettstedet vårt. Les mer om informasjonskapsler hos Fagerhult.
Fagerhult Innovator
  • Categories

  • Case studies
  • Product
  • Trends
  • Knowledge
  • Portraits
  • Sustainability
  • Insights

Visit fagerhult.com

Back to basics!

How to put human centric lighting into practice

Do you have neck and shoulder pain? It could be caused by bad lighting. Up to 40 percent of the population is sensitive for visual stimuli like glare. ”To improve health, reduce eyestrain, headache and musculoskeletal strain – such as neck and shoulder pain – the visual environment needs to be glare free, flicker free (including temporal light modulation) and have enough illuminance to perform the work task”, says Hillevi Hemphälä, one of the world's leading researchers in visual ergonomics.

text Amelie Bergman photo Emelie Asplund, Melker Dahlstrand/imagebanksweden, Robert Olsson
Facebook LinkedIn Twitter E-mail

During Hillevi Hemphälä's first working week as a trained optician, a young, female student asked for help with a vision examination. She often had headaches and suspected refractive errors.

”I did all the examinations possible. But I found nothing wrong with her vision at all! So, I asked her in what kind of situations she usually experienced discomfort. She told me that she always got headaches while reading in the library or attending lectures. When studying at home, drinking tea and reading in the light of a lit candle, everything felt great. I began to suspect that she was an extremely light sensitive person who couldn’t cope with glare”, Hillevi tells.

”I advised her to get a pair of gradual-colored sunglasses and to use them with a cap or hat with a brim during the lectures. A few weeks later she came back and told me that the headache was gone. That's when I decided to learn more about lighting!”

After a studying Lighting Design at Jönköping University Hillevi went on to earn a doctors’ degree at Design Sciences in Lund with a specialization in visual ergonomics. Today, she is associate senior lecturer at the Department of Ergonomics and Aerosol Technology at Lund University. She is also one of the few opticians in the world who do research in lighting.

hillevi_citat.jpg
"In my research we have established a connection between eye problems and pain in the neck and shoulders. The people who reported eye problems also had three times as much musculoskeletal problems." Hillevi Hemphälä, senior lecturer Department of Ergonomics and Aerosol Technology, Lund University

Lack of knowledge
Unfortunately, the common knowledge about visual ergonomics and how the visual environment should be designed from a human centric perspective is very low, says Hillevi. Too often, lighting environments in schools and at offices are planned as heavy glaring covers of light, which results in many students and employees having health problems. Most of us, have no reference of what good light is, making it hard for us to evaluate and change our visual environments. 

”We often think that the headache that develops during the work day is caused by poor eyesight and that you need new glasses, when in fact it is often poor and dazzling lighting that affects your vision.”

Hillevi’s research suggests that between 20-40 percent of the population is more sensitive to visual stimuli. Light sensitivity is also more common among women than among men.

”In my research we have established a connection between eye problems and pain in the neck and shoulders. The people who reported eye problems also had three times as much musculoskeletal problems.”

litet_kontor_flimmer.jpg

Back to basics
But how do you do to become more aware of your visual environment?

”Try holding your hands like a screen over your eyes, or put on a cap. If you find that there is a positive difference, then something in the visual environment is wrong, and probably it is light related.”

If you need a temporary solution, you can put up an ordinary outdoor parasol over your workplace, but of course, it won’t do in the long run. By addressing both any eye problems and the visual environment, you create the best conditions for increased health and well-being.

In order to create a good lighting environment, one must take the whole context into account. Lighting planning must be done based on our workplaces – rolling out a lux carpet over the room just won’t do it. If not careful, the lighting will become too strong for the eye. The human vision is developed for a natural environment, with the sky and the horizon with its smooth transitions, as a reference. Our eyes do not approve to strong contrasts, blacks and white.

In the era of large LED, ceiling mounted panels, we should consider going back to basics. By choosing a pendant with indirect/direct 70/30 light distribution over the desk you will get a comfortable lighting environment where the indirect lighting to the ceiling will help smooth out contrasts and prevent glare.

For those taking visual comfort at the workplace seriously, researchers at Lund University, Gävle University and KTH have developed the risk assessment tool VERAM. About 70 ergonomists at the Swedish occupational health service have been trained to use the tool and provide good light ergonomics to Swedish workplaces.

fagerhult_cityoflight.jpg

Is there still a flicker problem?
Glare is still a highly discussed topic in the lighting industry. But have you heard anyone talking flicker lately? In the days of the T8 and T5 fluorescent tubes, minimizing flicker was high up on the agenda for all serious players. One might wonder if LED was the end of flicker? Actually, the problem can be worse than ever, says Hillevi. The flicker is still there, it just changed character.

”When the light flickers visibly it is called “flicker” but when it is not visible it is called temporal light modulation, you might see the light flickering during eye-saccades or if a flickering object is moving in the visual field. When you cannot detect it - it is commonly called non-visual flicker or subliminal flicker, but the correct terminology is temporal light modulation, and the effects of it such as light arrays is called temporal light artefacts.”

”The flicker from LEDs can have higher frequency and modulation, making it not visible. The old kind of fluorescent tubes had conventional ballasts that switched the light on 100 times per second (in Europe) resulting in a soft 100 Hz sinus curve with a modulation of about 50 percent. LED technology is digital, meaning you in the worst case can get a square waved curve of a 100 Hz that is either on or off. In many cases there is a fluorescent that causes a longer cool of period, giving a softer waved curve, even sometimes a sinus curve, with a lower modulation. Sometimes the dimmer function of the LED drivers consists of pulse width modulation, PWM, causing an extended “off-period” that leads to higher modulation. The higher the modulation, the easier it is for the eye to detect it within some ranges. Dimming with PWM causes more reaction from us humans. According to a study, LED-flicker at 1,900 herz can also result in an uncomfortable lighting phenomenon called phantom array where the eye perceives a light trail from the light source”, Hillevi explains.

No rocket science
Many LED light sources are great and the technology has great potential, she states.

The problem is that we usually do not have drivers that are good enough to produce a flicker free or a frequency free LED light. To be on the safe side, we would need drivers with a frequency of more than 3,000 Hz, preferably more than 20000 Hz. Today, many suppliers offer 300-400 Hz.”
People who have a high sensitivity to visual stimuli are, unsurprisingly, also more sensitive to flicker.

”In our CCF-studies (Critical Flicker Frequency) we found out that about 24 percent of the participants were sensitive to flicker from LED lighting. This group suffered both eye problems and headaches after being exposed for an hour”, says Hillevi.
”What mostly surprises me, is that this is by no means rocket science. The problem can easily be solved, but I think there’s a lack of knowledge within the industry. Innovation Skåne has developed a completely flicker-free driver, it has no frequency at all. The device is easy to manufacture and it could not be patented, it is practically an open source, you can just ask for the CAD file. The solution is right in front of your eyes!”

Find inspiration

  • All
  • Case studies
  • Product
  • Trends
  • Knowledge
  • Portraits
  • Sustainability
  • Insights

Lighting insights - from the land of the midnight sun

Travelling Sweden in summertime is a crash course in lighting theory. Watching the sun dipping her toes in a deep blue lake, before she reluctantly se ...

From the grave to the cradle - full circle for a luminaire

The concept of refurbishing and/or rebuilding old luminaires in order to save material and energy is a field that is rapidly growing. And sometimes, w ...

The future is handmade

Art and culture are excellent ways to turn given concepts upside down, and create new approaches and solutions. One avant-gardist, who does not fear n ...

Work-welfare and safety in smart lighting - lighting for underground spaces

Working in an underground environment is a great challenge both physically and mentally – and even biologically. The constant lack of daylight, and co ...

Redefining the workplace - a visionary outlook on the office from Kinnarps

Interior design company Kinnarps originated as a family owned business (and still is to this day) from Sweden - and is now a synonym internationally f ...

Keep up with standards

This autumn 2021 a revised version of EN 12464-1 is published, which sets requirements for Lighting of indoor work places. We met with Tommy Govén, Se ...

What is the purpose of the office?

To have or not to have, a physical office space – might be the question many companies ask themselves these days. Our flexible and digital way of work ...

The waste is the win - making your carbon footprint tip-toe

Sustainability and environmental awareness are (thankfully) on everyone’s agenda these days. And for real change to happen, we all need to make new ch ...

Agitated, anxious and alone - living with dementia

Imagine not being able to recognise your own children. Not knowing where you live, where you are going or even how old you are. For many people suffer ...

In the club - I have a feeling I belong here

Building a community is not a quick win. So, why do for-profit brands invest time and money in this activity? In short, creating a community connected ...

Lighting First Aid for the TikTok-generation

When lighting expert Shelley James realized how lockdown affects the wellbeing of kids and teenagers, she was shocked. Now she is joining forces with ...

Feel the brand

When we finally emerge from our homes, after months of shopping from the couch, we will most likely look for brick-and-mortar experiences that gives u ...

Effects of working from home during Covid -19 - Physical problems, pain and posture

More people are working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While avoiding the office and staying socially distant is crucial to stopping the spread ...

Changing habits - Nudging our way to a more sustainable future

For some time now, it has been clear that us humans need to change the way we act and live to a more sustainable way. But change can be hard. Lucky fo ...

There is a light that never goes out

The innate longing and love for light is something universal for mankind. But how do you cope with an everyday life where the access to electrical lig ...

Recover better - UN-iting businesses for a better world

In a time of global disruption, ambitious climate action is as urgent as ever. The United Nations has therefore worked continuously to unite business ...

Double Dynamic Lighting - combining two worlds

Double Dynamic Lighting (DDL) is a lighting design concept for dynamic indoor lighting. In short, you adjust the electrical lighting in real time so t ...

Kitchen Ghosts: Cooking delicious cinemagraphs

Kitchen Ghosts is a duo that has taken the foodie culture to a higher level. By focusing on displaying homemade food and its handcraft in a tasteful w ...

A changing world USA, China and Russia

A decade after the United Nations declared that a tipping point had been reached and more than half the world’s population now lives in urban areas, c ...

A life of colour and light

Liz West is a UK-based light artist with an immense passion for colour, playfulness and light. She is renowned for her innovative artworks that explor ...

HNoMS Maud - a full scale hospital at sea

HNoMS Maud, the Royal Norwegian Navy’s new logistics and support vessel, has arrived to its new homeport of Haakonsvern navy base. She was built on be ...

Setting the biological clock - the use of light in Health and Care

Even though we consider ourselves modern people, our brains are really not that up to date. We are still biological creatures, affected by the shifts ...

Saved by the light How lighting can prevent unwanted behavior

The expanding capabilities with LED's are well suited to the shifting urban landscape. Creative outdoor lighting can change, and prevent, unwanted beh ...

The beauty is in the brain of the beholder

Advances in neuroimaging allows us to have a more indepth understanding of how our brain processes impressions. We now know more of how the brain perc ...

Recipes for creative patterns

A rotating tube light and a postmodern spotlight – both a part of the architectural universe created by Design Campus for an upcoming project in Londo ...

John V. Muntean - a story of light, art, truth and science

Can you trust your eyes? Or is the object in front of you open to multiple interpretations? Chicago-based scientist and artist John V. Muntean uses li ...

Lifelong learning - a journey throughout life

Lifelong learning concerns every individual’s opportunity – and responsibility – to continue developing and learning new things throughout life. Howev ...

A democratic learning environment - creating spaces for equality and possibilities

A well-planned learning environment increases the pupil's possibilities to take part of the education. Malin Valsö, registered psychologist and autho ...

75 years of light

Fagerhults Belysning is the story of a man who saw the world in a bright new light. Who spotted opportunities in technological advancements and in the ...

Holding it together

In a time when ingrained behaviours and patterns are being questioned, alternatives are needed. Something, or someone, that puts the focus on things o ...

Danborg & Kundla The researcher’s guideline to human-centric library lighting

How can lighting be used to create different activity zones that meet the visitors’ needs and enhances the experience in the library? In a new master’ ...

Lighting up the darkness Bringing light to places of grief

The cemetery is a place for meetings and farewells, a place associated with a range of emotions and moods. How can you, in a good way, turn a place th ...

Back to basics! How to put human centric lighting into practice

Do you have neck and shoulder pain? It could be caused by bad lighting. Up to 40 percent of the population is sensitive for visual stimuli like glare ...

Reducing energy consumption - the transformation from "mechanics" to electronics

At Fagerhult we have developed, manufactured and offered lighting solutions for 75 years. At the time our company was founded, only one type of light ...

To serve and inspire - making the store the USP

Today, e-commerce is booming through the roof and a lot of brick-and-mortar stores struggle with the competition. In times like these, it could be tha ...

Sim Sala BIM! The revolution of the construction process

The construction and real estate market is undergoing a major change where digitization plays the leading role. The magic is spelled BIM – Building In ...

Storytelling with BIM - White Architects share their view

Soon enough, lighting designs will be integrated directly into BIM models with the help of game technology. Christoffer Sundberg, farsighted BIM-strat ...

Bringin the right light to the stage

Lighting designer and Director Alexander Hesse, is currently travelling the world with Swedish House Mafias come back tour. Here we learn his thoughts ...

Don't fear the robots.

The reporting of digitalization and automatization in the media, can sometimes seem dark and pessimistic. Instead of focusing on all the possibilities ...

Material girl. Designer Emma Olbers encourages to material awareness.

Emma Olbers is one of the pioneers in sustainable design. By being consistent in their choice of materials and production, she helps customers and con ...

Going to the movies

In the quest to quantify the emotional part of human centric lighting solutions we need to involve the end users. But advanced lighting professional l ...

Lighting controls How to increase lighting quality and lower energy consumption.

Yes! You can eat the cake and have it too… New research from the IT University in Copenhagen suggests that investing in high quality lighting can actu ...

Behavioral design Psychology that changes thoughts, feelings and actions

What do the toilets at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol have in common with pendant light fittings in Danish primary schools? Both are design initiatives in ...

Enhance your environment The lighting advisors guide to inspiring environments

Investing in exterior lighting designs is an effective way to increase the value and attractiveness of a property. ”Innovative and energy efficient t ...

The office of the future

Over the past few decades we have seen office trends come and go. What are the current trends, and what might the office of the future actually look l ...

Focus on the human centric lighting

Light is well-being, but it can also be terror. Human centric lighting is, and should not, just be about increasing people’s performance. ”Smart ligh ...

Prep Work The showroom that makes room for the senses

How do you construct a friendly, healthy, and high-performance workspace? A space where conditions are sustainable for the employees and environment a ...

Primary light forms - Bespoke lighting for Fotografiska London

Opening mid 2019, Fotografiska London will be one of the largest museums in the world dedicated to photography. A postmodern architectural universe cr ...

Details that make a difference

”It is so easy to get caught up in the big words. I prefer the smaller ones. With many small changes you can make a huge difference. It takes knowledg ...

Ageless but not sharp-eyed How do we meet the increased lighting needs of an aging population?

We are getting older. Probably wiser. But as the human eye is aging, our needs for light increase dramatically. ”We are talking about raising the reti ...

Back to the future An innovation from the 1990s helped Fagerhult solve the LED equation

All the efficiency and all the visual comfort. How do you solve the light industries trickiest equation? The clues were in the past and the classic r5 ...

How to make money on sustainability. It’s common sense!

Corporate social responsibility isn’t just a buzzword anymore. Big or small, retailer or supplier, every company needs to be accountable for its actio ...

Fresh foodie technology There are 2 000 chefs lined up in your kitchen!

After spending hours – and probably a small fortune – searching for the right ingredients, there’s no excuse for bad cooking. So what to do when the r ...

Convergence: Restaurant Tying the knot. Noma in cross over collaboration with Club Monaco

What is your industry? Retail? Restaurant? Interior Design, Hospitality or Entertainment? And does it really matter? In The Convergence Economy brands ...

Breakthrough in gerontology?

What if lighting could help the elderly to a happier and healthier life? Actually, it can! A new research project at Lund University indicates that d ...

Copenhagen Connected Lighting infrastructure and smart city solutions

Copenhagen brings connectivity to a new level. In the project Copenhagen Connecting the streetlights play a key role in the infrastructure for the new ...

Hästens: A feeling of home

The luxury bed company Hästens new shop concept is based on recreating a feeling of home where you can sit down, have a coffee, read a book or even fa ...

Innovations for better light

Over the last 70 years within the lighting industry various new findings have come our way and we have embraced the change. When we started 1945 there ...

Fabulous Fabian – an icon reincarnated

Fabian is a subtle retro fixture, deeply connected with our innovative heritage. When launched in 1969 Fabian was Sweden’s – maybe even the worlds – e ...

Creating the world’s best conference room Communicator on a crusade

After experiencing hundreds of badly planned conference facilities, communication expert David Phillips is taking things into his own hands. In the be ...

Skywalker − our brightest shining star

The 2018 Red Dot Award Winner Skywalker gives a brand new perspective on office space lighting. With a touch of magic, the design team from Above and ...

Proof of the pudding

Throughout the world, innovative designers and employers applying the Well Building Standard to create workplaces that are healthy for body and mind. ...

Light prophecy A journey into the future of 2025

We are only one year away from when Ridley Scotts adaptation of the Novel “Do androids dream of electric sheep”, more commonly known as Bladerunner, i ...

The Lobby - a new retail concept

The increasing online shopping trend within retail has made an impact in all traditional stores. Customers today are placing their order with a click ...

Lighting design cowboys aiming for change

It is all about people, not the places. Swedish lighting designers Olsson & Linder are forerunners in Social Lighting, challenging politicians, offici ...

Still a toddler, The MSC Lighting Design Programme at Danish Aalborg University, is considered one of the best in the world. In 2017 the programme was ...

70 years of lighting knowledge

Fagerhult is the story of a man who saw the world with new eyes. Who spotted opportunities in technological advancements and in the world around him. ...

Food experiences with Tongue Twister

Have you ever thought about how complex food is? We used to say that we eat with our eyes, but are there several key factors to finding stunning flavo ...

Food trends Lifestyle choices and their effects on food industry

Strong is the new skinny, LCHP instead of LCHF, dieting with Instagram and slow food instead of fast food. How will these trends effect the food indus ...

Studio Streck create concepts - No magic, just hard work

When the interior designers at Studio Streck create a shop concept it is always based on the customer’s brand and perspective. This is something they ...

The many lives of Dino

Is it a cat? Or is it a chameleon? Architects Lars Pettersson and Morgan Rudberg are the masterminds behind Dino – the luminaire with a versatile char ...

Booster Pro Lighting for a premium shop experience

In the Stockholm based Mall of Scandinavia (the largest shopping centre in Scandinavia) the Norwegian cosmetic company Booster Pro opened a shop with ...

The Dandy Lab: Exploring the future of retail

Smart cities, smart homes and now – smart shops. Hyped London pop-up store The Dandy Lab explores the Internet of Things in a physical retail environm ...

The glittering light of Nordic summer

Devina Solglitter is a creative collaboration between Fagerhult and Orrefors Glasswork. ”I wanted to reflect the glittering light that captures the s ...

History of the lantern

The design of outdoor lighting has always been determined by the shape of the light source. Not anymore. In co-operation with groundbreaking lighting ...

Exploring in adaptable light Little Explorers at Marina Mall in Dubai

Lego is one of the most popular children’s toys in the world. No wonder that, alongside Little Explorers, Majid Al Futtaim Holding have based a seriou ...

Islands of Light pendant lighting versus office distractions

A study into the use of pendant lighting at a school in Denmark could have lessons for increasing productivity and reducing stress in the workplace. ...

The electric Advent candelabra – A Swedish lighting phenomenon

No, it is not the Northern Lights but it is still a phenomenon. The electric Advent candelabra are a Swedish lighting tradition that cannot be experie ...

Storytelling in a Virtual Reality 

The consumer won’t buy what you are doing. They buy why you are doing it. Virtual Reality is the new, intriguing way to tell that story. ”It’s so real ...

Light – the soul of Electronic Dance Music

With his Cloud Nine-tour, artist and producer Kygo has taken musical entertainment to a new level. The creative force behind Kygo’s spectacular light ...

Connecting through fibre and thread

Conventional woven handcraft meets modern lighting in Malin Bobeck’s art pieces. As a Textile designer and artist she creates using optical fibre text ...

Pendant Gallery

Design is a universal language without end, within the form of expression there is something that speaks to all of us. The time when the options were ...

Play with Notor

Defined by a minimalist style that houses so many possibilities, Notor’s flexibility has helped keep it relevant for over 15 years. The technology has ...

Putting the wheels in motion

A total of 188 Evolume pole luminaires have been equipped with e-Sense Motion in a breakthrough project undertaken in conjunction with the Swedish Tra ...

The science of shopping

There are several visual techniques used in a shop to dictate which products are discovered and how they are interpreted. We might believe we have ful ...

Involving all senses in retail

An ideal store environment is one that engages our senses. When working with light, we are constantly developing lit experiences focusing on the visua ...

Industrial Chic

Industrial chic, and rugged pendant lighting in particular, has been a part of the interior designer’s palette for longer than many of us might imagin ...

Expressing and enhancing the qualities of the surrounding

Architectonical lighting, outdoor lighting, exhibitions, discos, shows, operas… Oscar Nyström has done it all. From luxury hotel resorts to super yach ...

No compromise – The Blue Planet

The Blue Planet is the largest aquarium in northern Europe, with more than 20 000 animals living in 7 million litres of water. From the outside, it’s ...

The revitalization of outdoor lighting control

With advanced lighting control, energy consumption in urban areas can be reduced by 40% – without affecting people’s perceived safety and visual comfo ...

How to make money on sustainability It’s common sense!

Corporate social responsibility isn’t just a buzzword anymore. Big or small, retailer or supplier, every company needs to be accountable for its actio ...

Making an entrance

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Lighting is the ”red carpet” of the hospitality industry and one of the most effective ways ...

Vialume – designing good light

It’s very easy to understand why one wants to make some effort in the design of an pendant interior luminaire, just like you make an effort with the r ...

Branding interiors

In 1954, Coca-Cola’s advertising slogan was “For people on the go”. Sixty years later the same phrase embodies the design of the company’s new Europea ...

Repair shops – a new retail category?

Behind that rough and eye-catching shop concept there is an underlying sustainable mind-set for every choice and decision, from walls to the type of f ...

Catching fire

The "Spira Lamp” is a piece of art. It is the vision of designer and artist Ingegerd Råman, realised by Fagerhult in collaboration with skilled partne ...

Labelling the light The six emotions of lighting design

Communication is vital when creating innovative and functional lighting design. When things go wrong it is normally caused by misunderstandings. ...

Ageless but not sharp-eyed. How do we meet the increased lighting needs of an aging population?

Fagerhult

Innovator is a celebration of the wonderful world of light, drawing inspiration from the latest trends, insights inspiring projects and, most importantly, the people that make it all happen.

Head Office. Fagerhults Belysning AB. SE-566 80 Habo. Sweden +46 36 10 85 00.
Copyright © 2017 AB Fagerhult. All rights reserved.

chevron-down chevron-right facebook linkedin medium mynewsdesk twitter vimeo youtube