Designing backlighting to enhance the experience of porcelain tiles

Abstract

Light has always been an important aspect in our daily lives. Many years back the people on earth only had light from the sun to rely on, after that the flame and other light sources like the incandescent lamp and LED lighting were invented. A pioneer in lighting design (Richard Kelly) defined lighting as three different groups; ambient lighting, focal glow lighting and play of brilliance lighting. Ambient lighting illuminates everything around us; focal glow lighting illuminates certain objects or areas; play of brilliance lighting itself attracts the attention. Therefore play of brilliance lighting can be seen as a more decorative lighting. The focus during this graduation project is on decorative lighting in combination with translucent porcelain tiles. These tiles are produced by the design company Studio Barbara Vos. The tiles are made from a special porcelain mixture that uses ashes from bones to create the translucency. In combination with a textile imprint, the tile shows different light intensities over the tile when it is placed in front of a light source. In order to create a wall with porcelain tiles and light behind them, the lighting product is developed during this project. During the research phase information about ceramics, lighting and their combination is discussed. The variety in lighting created a comparison between five light sources where the LEDs and the LED-strips turned out to be the most suitable for this product. The choices are based on a long durability, small size, rather low costs and the flexibility for the design. The target group for the final product is a group of people that have more money to spend than a regular household. This was already a predefined target group because of the rather high costs of the porcelain tiles itself. Surveys amongst people within the design industry confirmed this target group and also showed that the product will be attractive to hotels and restaurants. By looking at products and their prices of competitors in the lighting and tiling industry a price range was defined for the final product. The complete analysis phase resulted in a list of requirement that was divided into four different groups; production, use, installation and maintenance. The most important design aspect were derived from the requirements and listed below: - homogeneous light - dimensions - connecting - light intensity - wall mounting - heat management - maintenance All these design aspects created a basis for the concept development. After idea generation and testing different models eventually three concepts were created. By using the design aspects in combination with a Harris Profile, the most promising concept was chosen and optimized during the embodiment phase. The final design is a lighting product with the dimensions of 150mm x 150mm x 18mm which can be placed behind a porcelain tile. The product carries a diffusing acrylic sheet enclosed by RGB LED-strips on two sides. These strips shine light into the sides of the acrylic which causes the light to exit the sheet perpendicular to the LED-strips. The light from the LED-strips spreads over the complete surface of the acrylic which causes the desired homogeneous light. Multiple lights can be connected by using the two connectors on the product that can be used as both an input as an output. The used RGB LED-strips enable the user to set the desired colour or effect. A prototype of the product in combination with porcelain tiles was build and a user test was conducted. The results show that the product looks attractive and that it would be suitable for hotels and restaurants and wellness centres. The colours on the remote control do not resemble the colours of the illuminated tiles perfectly; therefore a recommendation was done to find a suitable control system. People do perceive the illuminated lights as looking luminous under bright and darker circumstances.