Week 8- Maia Lucas- Irvine Spectrum- Site Specific

This weekend I visited Irvine Spectrum Center. I found the lighting design particularly interesting since they recently added some of their holiday season decor. From my past experience of Irvine Spectrum, the lighting design tends to lean very warm-toned and modern, giving a high-quality feel and making guests feel like they are in a very nice, inviting, and expensive environment. I feel that the intent was to give the space a high-end yet welcoming feel, not only encouraging guests to shop there, but also to encourage stores of value to bring more properties there. Even if all the stores there are not necessarily 'high-end', shoppers want to feel like they are shopping somewhere classy, so this lighting helps to add to their experience. Rather than going very traditionally colorful with their holiday decor, they keep even the festive bits very sleek and modern looking, with all mono-toned warm light. Additionally, some of the lighting draws attention to the Southern California setting, with palm trees being accentuated with string lights (as pictured in the first photo).

Store 1: Kevin Jewelers

A store that I think had unsuccessful overall lighting was Kevin Jewelers. I think the intent was to have high visibility in the store so as to draw potential customers to the sparkly jewelry. However, there are just too many different types of lighting in the store, and it makes it sort of difficult to know where to look. The store has 3 types of lighting on the ceiling (recess lights, track lights, and hanging lamps), as well as bright bars of cool-toned LED lights within the jewelry cases. The store is also filled with glass cases and screens, so the light feels even more reflected. It overall feels washed out, and the warm and cool tones aren't working together in the design much. 

Store 2: Chilli Beans

A store that I think had very successful overall lighting was Chilli Beans, a store that specializes in sunglasses. Ironically, the two stores had some similar lighting designs, with 2 types of ceiling light and a mix of warm and cool tones. However, Chilli Beans really utilized the 2 different tones of lighting to highlight different parts of the store. The cool-toned lights reflect well on the white walls, making the store look sleek and high-end. Meanwhile, there are small lights positioned over each pair of sunglasses on the wall, and the contrasted warm light makes them really pop. Your eyes in the store are immediately drawn to the merchandise, rather than the entirety of the store. 

Week 8, Austin Geordge, Irvine Spectrum - Site Specific

 

I visited Irvine Spectrum a good amount over the past few weeks and have been keenly aware of the lighting. Generally I like the overall lighting at night, especially once they put the lights up on the trees but my first photo really stuck out to me. They put the tree up extremely early in my opinion and it has been drawing my eyes every time that I am there. That is a good thing but it still wows me how quickly it went up and makes me wonder how they coordinated everything and got the lights on it working in essentially a single night.

The photo is not particularly great but the store that I thought succeeded was Lush. The sign is bright and you are able to see it from a distance, but the inside is a nice mix of warm and cool lighting that feels very welcoming and it makes me want to shop there. Because of this I think the designers were successful. 

The store that I think failed is American Eagle. The photo doesn't quite show it, but the sign is very dark and if I didn't know what the store was I would not have been able to tell what the sign said until I was much closer to it. This fact is disappointing because the inside of the store is much brighter and draws someone in really well. The layout of the inside is done well in order for there to be a great amount of light. The reason this store fails is because there is no draw to it when you can't even read the sign from more than a few feet away.

Week 8 - Kristin Goodell - The Block - Site Specific

    This weekend I visited The Block in Orange. The Block is an outdoor shopping center with a large movie theater, several restaurants, and an abundance of retail stores. I think that the goal of the designers was to create an inviting, warm atmosphere that would entice people to walk through the different alleys and explore the shops. Since we are entering the holiday season, there were also special Christmas lights and decorations displayed throughout the mall. These additional lighting details served to fill the guests with holiday cheer and remind them that it’s a good time to start their holiday gift shopping. I believe that the designers accomplished their goals because, even though it was a huge mall filled with name brand stores, it still felt like a cozy walk downtown instead of a soulless strip mall. 

    One of the stores that I think was successful was Saddle Ranch Chop House. Saddle Ranch is an Old-West themed restaurant. The outside of the building is designed to look like a saloon, and features mannequins dressed to look like generic characters from the Old West. I liked how they had lights illuminating the mannequins as if they were actors on a stage. It helped call attention to the balcony scenes the mannequins were a part of. The lighting inside the restaurant was warm and cozy. They lit the restaurant using warm-white ceiling fan lights dispersed throughout the establishment and smaller warm-white fixtures in the rafters. This created an intimate, inviting atmosphere for the guests. The restaurant was also decorated with strings of colored christmas lights for the holiday season. The strings of christmas lights were small and not over-the-top, contributing to the traditional, down-to-earth feel of the old-western saloon. One thing that caught my eye was the use of red light illuminating the alcohol bottles at the bar. I liked it initially because it was bold and interesting, although in hindsight this look is too modern compared to the rest of the old-western style design of the restaurant. I feel like this bar lighting is something I would see in a nightclub rather than a saloon. 

    One of the stores that I think was unsuccessful was Build-A-Bear Workshop. I was really disappointed by their lighting. The theme of Build-A-Bear workshop is supposed to be fun, magical, and appealing to kids. The sign outside the entrance was colorful and enticing for children, but the inside of the store did not match that same energy. Instead, it looked like a barren warehouse. There was no magic or whimsy in sight! The inside of the store was lit solely with blindingly bright fluorescent tubes. The lights bounced off of the pale walls and empty floors and made the whole room feel like a sterile wasteland. The fluorescents accentuated the fact that there was too much empty space and not enough merchandise or decor to fill it. I think the store would benefit from softer, warm lighting, some fun colors similar to their entrance sign, and changing the layout of the floor so there is less empty space.

Week 8 - Yongxi Zhang - Irvine Spectrum Center - Site Specific

 I went to Irvine Spectrum this week. Because of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, they used lots of light lines to decorate the outdoor views, such as trees and buildings. I believe that the designers want to convey a holiday feeling to visitors, and I think they did a good job. Luckily, I met a music gathering activity in the center area, so the lighting was more interesting. They put lights on the trees and the roof, creating a warm atmosphere in the winter. They used colorful lights to create the shape of a gift box, expressing the uniqueness of the Black Friday discount to attract more visitors. The green and red lights are used for the music event, so only limited to a specific area, which I think is awesome because it will not interfere with consistently in other areas.  

This cookie store I think is very successful. when I pass it, I smell the unique sweet smell of cookies, and the inside color of the place is mainly pink. They used lots of pink and lavender light lines to decorate the walls. The color of the lamps inside is mainly warm yellow color, which creates a warm and relaxed atmosphere, suiting the cookie shop very well. they also have colorful lights decorating the Christmas tree for the holiday, which also fit in very well with the overall lights. I don't feel weird seeing how these elements are combined. 

This is the store I don't think reached the goal successfully. Version Store is a place to sell phones and other technology devices, which means the lights need to be clean and sharp on the devices they put on the table. I think the lights on the roof did a good job. However, to celebrate Christmas, they put a Christmas tree near the door, with weird green, purple, and blue colors. I think these lights destroy the consistency and unity of the whole store lights. In the cookie store, yellow and red lights on the trees fit well in the white background and overall pink style, but this tree's colors are the opposite of the bright high-intensity white lights in the store. They stand out very much and cannot be blended in. Make me feel like it is a dark showdow corner in a big bright clean store. They made unnecessary decorations. 

Week 8, Daisy Santos, Irvine Spectrum - Site Specific

 

The Irvine Spectrum is an outdoor shopping center where shoppers are able to come across all types of stores based on their interests. Thus, as I walked around and did some shopping of my own, I noticed how soft and warm toned the spectrum is. The usage of incandescent lights all throughout the walkways, structures, and palm trees/bushes (as you can see in the photo above) is inviting, safe, and soft to the touch for this location. Based on these features, I believe the designers accomplished making this location welcoming, family-oriented, and relaxing for all types of individuals to come hang out with family/friends or simply shop in their spare time. Additionally, blue, red, and green lights are eye-catching as these colors are not in correspondence to the typical incandescent lighting being used all throughout the location. It highlights some of the festivities or attractions (the ferris wheel and christmas tree) that people can participate in as well.

There were a few stores where the lighting/theme of the store was successful and not. For instance, the Hello Kitty Cafe does an amazing job of having cold tone lights illustrating it signage outside that relate to the white skin tone that is the Hello Kitty character. The pink lights also correlates with both the hello kitty bow and theme inside and outside of the store. Everything feature, light, and even painting inside the store are cohesive with the Hello Kitty theme this store is portraying thus, this designers of this store successfully executed their intentions and representation of Hello Kitty and her world.

The store in which I claim failed to provide a cohesive and theme or aesthetic was Heat. As you can see in the photo below, this store defaults to using the incandescent lights along its structure (and that is also installed to all other stores). The lack of saturated colors or even a theme makes this store less appealing and inviting to those walking past it. The only saturated color to the store would be the red from the Heat sign but given the meaning of it's sign, one would think that this store would utilize more vibrant and powerful colors to convey clothing or merchandise that can be considered "heat" or "cool". The bright white lights inside the store also conflicts with bright red color of the sign outside. Therefore, the designers for this store failed to provide its shoppers with a theme and appeal to this store that is cohesive both inside and outside the store; making it incohesive and unappealing from a glance.

Week 8 - Jayde Farmer - Downtown Disney - Site Specific

 

I choose Downtown Disney for my site specific blog post. I'm fairly familiar with Downtown Disney, especially at Christmas time, but focusing on the lighting allowed me to see the was in which the designers tried to shape the environment to be "Disney"-like. I think that the designers were trying to elevate the traditional strip-mall feeling to make it more magical. There were a lot of colorful lights on the trees, not just in Christmas colors but rainbows that parallel the colors in the "World of Disney" store. The Christmas trees and lights added to this, but some of the silver pods of decorations with cool toned lights didn't really match the existing colorful lighting. 

The first store I went in was the Star Wars Trading Outpost. I've had issues with this store's design since it opened, but seeing the lighting at night just emphasized them even more. It used to be a Rainforest Cafe, which is still very obvious. I think the designers were trying to emulate some kind of space trading outpost. They really just dressed the existing building with a bunch of wires and camo netting so that they could sell more Star Wars stuff. The lighting inside and outside the store makes it worse. On the outside they have a giant white flood light that looks like a construction work light pointed at the camo netting and wire, washing out any of the texture that it would have added. The only redeeming feature is the light in the topmost tower and the side that carve out the architecture, but the warm glow is obviously something from when it was a rainforest cafe, because it doesn't match any of the lighting in the rest of the store. Inside, there are warmer lights that showcase the merchandise,  with cooler fill lights that come from right above the poorly dressed plastic trees, highlighting the camo netting and the laziness of the redesign.

The most successful lighting I noticed was the Disney Home store, because it is so simple. The designers wanted you to feel at home in the Disney Home store. The Home store is lit with a warmer halogen-reminiscent style. This is very obvious against the cooler-lit gallery next door. I think that this warm and inviting look was a great choice for a home store. It made the display of objects look like they could be in your home, rather than being on a display. This helped relate the items to the home and made it comfortable to browse for a long time.

Week 8 - Logan Brubaker - Irvine Spectrum Center - Site Specific

 

For my site-specific post, I went to the Irvine Spectrum Center. I've been there before but not during Christmas. Seeing the lights created a whole new, exciting environment. The overall feeling that I got was very pedestrian and open-air. I believe the designers wanted to accomplish a sense of luxury, cleanliness, and indirect lighting, so that people felt individualized, not as part of a large group of shoppers/townsfolk. This is especially shown through the use of ground lighting, creating pools instead of constant lighting. The designers definitely accomplished their goal through the use of practical lighting of the trees/Ferris wheel/Christmas Tree to be looked at and the pools of light on the ground to be used by pedestrians to see.

The first store I stopped by was a Sleep Number store. While it was unfortunately closed, the lighting inside still worked out well to its advantage. I think the overall theme of being both a bedroom and a store worked out very well. The beds are lit in a low, general space light (like a Fresnel would be used for) and the shelves of products against the wall were highlighted. As these lights did not bleed into each other, it created two separate worlds that abutted each other nicely.

I also stopped by a stationary store which I do not think succeeded in their goal. I believe they wanted to be bright and fun, but it did not work well. The lighting is too strong, creating a glaringly cool, white light. Due to the placement of the fixtures, half of the items on the shelves were cast in shadow due to the shelves above them. I think that using a warmer-toned light and moving the fixtures farther into the room so they shone at a less severe angle would have accomplished their goal much better.

Week 6 - Austin Geordge - Serenity - Passion

 The photo I chose this week is one I took yesterday when I looked at the ceiling. My apartment borders the pool so I get a lot of light when I have the blinds open. Unfortunately you can't see the motion of the water reflecting in the light but I find it really peaceful. It's slow but easily noticeable and it reminds me of my enjoyment of observing light and how it interacts with the world around it. It is one of the small things that you may notice but you may not enjoy it as much if you aren't looking through a designer's eye. I would love to recreate it in a show because it is something that I think everyone sees at one point but you forget about it until you see it again.

Week 6 - Maia Lucas - Into the Kit Kat Club - Passion

 

This weekend, I had the chance to see Cabaret at UCI (Awesome work, Jimmy!). This is a picture I took of the lighting of the house as the audience was entering the theater. I thought the choice to light not only the stage, but also the house and walls of the theater was a super compelling and immersive choice. The red color and ornate gobo definitely made me think of 'passion' right away. Cabaret is such a sultry and flashy show, and getting into that space is so key to really feeling the impact of the show. I think that the color, shapes, and intensity of the light definitely put us as the audience into that passionate environment, and tell us what we should expect as we get ready to see the performers.

From a design standpoint, this definitely made me reflect on the pre-show lighting from other shows I've seen recently. It's something we don't pay as much attention to as we do the lighting of the actual show, but it's the first impression an audience has of the lighting and the theater environment. Going forward, I definitely will start to pay more attention to default lighting in shows, and appreciate the carefully thought-out ones as seen here.

Week Six - Kristin Goodell - Frankenstein's Lobby - Passion

 

   Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending Irvine Valley College’s production of the musical Young Frankenstein. There were many aspects of the lighting design that engaged me, and it was fun to see their use of vibrant colors, effects, and moving lights. One aspect of the lighting that surprised me the most was the lighting in the lobby during intermission. The walls were lit with blue and red spotlights. Upon further inspection, it seemed like they had taped gels onto regular wall-display spotlights (since the lights had no gel frames). I was impressed by the ingenuity of the designers to alter their lobby lights in this way. Many aspects of the lobby were designed to match the world of the show. They hung spooky halloween decor, had a touch-sensitive plasma ball for patrons to play with, and served themed snacks and drinks. I do wonder, however, if the wall lights are always red and blue for every show. To further keep within the world of the musical, I think it would have been more effective to use vibrant green and violet gels, since that was the main color palette used on stage.  

    What I loved most about the show was that you could tell just how passionate every member of the cast and crew was about the production. Every aspect from the lighting and costumes to the singing and acting, even the lobby, was infused with creativity and enthusiasm. This has inspired me to start considering how I can incorporate the lobby into the theatrical design of a production in order to further immerse the audience into the world of the show.

Week 6 - Logan Brubaker - Friendship - Passion

 

This week, I got to go with one of my best friends to my favorite SoCal restuarant. It's called Wursthaus and it's a German sausage and beer hall in downtown Santa Ana. It wasn't very crowded, and the patrons were mostly made up of small friend groups. I was considering the indoor lighting, how everything was very dim and dark, but also that you could still see the conversations people were having, full of laughter and loud voices.

One of my greatest passions is how I treat, connect with, and take care of my friends. I believe true friendship is something extremely deep and honest. This lighting could be used for secrecy or subterfuge, but just as easily it could be turned into speaking with close confidants, laughing loudly until you can't breath, or trying to eat too much and getting a stomach ache, all with your best friend. Yes, the dim light could be seen as something mysterious or frightening, but instead I saw it as comforting, comfortable, and warm.

Week 6 - Maggie Zhang - Gateway Library - Passion

 

I was studying in the Gateway Library during the midterm week. Honestly, I was frustrated and a bit sleepy because I could not answer my questions correctly. I almost gave up and decided to pack my stuff to go home. Then I looked up, and I found this great view. The sunshine went through the library windows on the table, creating a shadow on the wall. And I can find the shadow of the trees outside on the window. Everyone was looking at their laptop and concentrating. I looked up and found myself almost lost in a beautiful illusion. The dream one. The one you are successful and reach your goal. The sunshine just reminded me of all the beautiful things in my life, the things I'm fighting for. I felt energetic and passionate again. 

Week 6, Daisy Santos, Burro Love - Passion

 

This past Friday, I went to the OC Zoo. Walking around each exhibit and taking photos along on the way, I came across two burros who were eating some green plant at the edge of the fence. A moment later, they stopped, looked at each other, and budded/touched heads displaying a perfect image of affection, love, and passion. So, I quickly snapped a photo and made this shot my blog assignment. 

There's something so alluring about the way that the foreground is not as illuminated as much as the background thus, its supports such a loving and passionate display all the more. It perfectly spotlights just the two burros (not them but behind them which honestly works well)and nothing else. To add on, there are some small orange-ish/red-ish flower buds from the plant that is located in front of the fence and burros so that element also contributed to an affectionate display. I kind of wish that plant wasn't there just so we can focus more on the interaction of the burros but it served its purpose with the small flower buds. Overall, it was a cute display of passion where I kind of felt like I was intruding on but was lucky enough to experience it.

Week 6 - Jayde Farmer - A Theatre for Fish? - Passion

 

I feel like in the past week I have been noticing lighting more than I ever did before taking this class. Today at the aquarium I was surprised at how much the lighting effected the story of each area/tank. 

For example, the first image is a tank that was a representation of the diverse ecosystems on the bases of decommissioned ocean oil platforms. I thought that the choice to have one punching light make it feel like shining the flashlight deep in the ocean. It was highlighting a place we usually wouldn't get to see.

Many of the tanks had this artificial light refraction using gobos to make it look like sunlight. Some of them were natural from sunlight hitting the tanks from outside (image three), but even the imitations, like the second image, created the same feeling of sunlight on the ocean floor. It made the tanks less voyeuristic and more like a chunk of the ocean in a tank. Many of the large tanks had this, making them nice to watch for long periods of time. Tanks with bright white LEDs flooding them mainly highlighted one animal, instead of simulating an environment, the lighting suited each purpose of a tank.

Lighting also was also used throughout the aquarium to urge you to explore and interact. The projections on the floor in the fourth image were a favorite for my nephew. They worked well on this dark carpet, but the projector black was bad on the lighter surfaces that absorbed less light. They worked to make places that normally would be pretty useless empty space become a place to continue interacting with the aquarium.

Overall, I was struck by how much the lighting worked in a similar way to theatre. There was not a single area where the story/theme was not driven by light. It was subtle, in a way were you really only notice if you are looking, but essential. It made me think about how so much of what people enjoy relates to theatre, and thus, why it is my passion. It really felt like a theatre for fish.