Designing Lighting Products

An introduction to designing lighting products. 

DESIGNING A NEW LIGHTING PRODUCT IDEA


The importance of good and appropriate lighting product can never be overemphasized. Technological advancements in LED bulbs particularly, as well as improved materials and innovative manufacturing techniques, has meant that the market is ripe for new designs and better, more adaptive overall solutions.

It is often said that a room can serve many purposes, light fittings have a large role to play. Illumination has great impacts on our mood, aesthetics and can even dictate the perception one has of a place. Lighting product design involves designing, developing, and manufacturing of the hardware that converts an innovative lighting product idea into reality. Lighting product design allows for the development of unique and customised technical development to bring to market unique, desirable products.

At D2M, we do not limit our clients to standard procedure that is easy for the business; rather, we create flexible development plans for bringing our client’s lighting products to life. 

We are aware that each client, as well as each project, is unique. Therefore, we create custom made plans for each project embarked on. 

The design process involves:

1. Establishing the Requirements

This process entails having adept knowledge of what the lighting product aims to achieve. Here, what the product designers consider:

  1. Mains or battery powered
  2. Environmental considerations
  3. Safety and certification required
  4. Bulb type and replacement
  5. The user’s requirements
  6. Type of light required (brightness, colour etc.)
  7. Overall budgetary constraints
  8. Tooling and Unit cost maximums

D2M has been involved in evolving innovative concepts for over 10 years, you can be rest assured we are well placed to help identify the core requirements.

2. Determining the method of lighting

For Example:
★ Direct lighting where 90 to 100% of the light shines on the work surface from the light source. It is also the most common type used.
★ Semi direct lighting: here, the amount of light that shines on the work surface makes up about 60 to 90% of the light source. The rest reflects to the ceiling or superior portions of the wall.
★ General lighting also known as diffuse lighting. Here the light is evenly distributed between the upper and lower parts of the room
★ Indirect lighting: in indirect lighting, most of the light rays are focused on the ceiling from which it reflects to produce evenly distributed and diffuse lighting

This phase requires research on the market, remember, you are to design for your prospective customers not yourself! D2M will be there every step of the way.

commercial viability risk
Idea to Business
Product Design Team meeting

3. Light source selection

After going through the previous stages, the light source should be considered next. When picking a light source, look out for the following:

★ Quality of light: this has to be the most important attribute of light sources. To assess the light quality attribute of a light source, two measurements can be done. They are Colour Rendering Index (CRI) and Correlated Colour Test (CCT).
★ Efficacy: this not only entails the quality and quantity of light generated, it also deals with the energy input
★ Durability: all products of quality need to have a reasonable lifetime.
★ Physical size
★ Timing and control gear requirements
★ Compatibility with existent electronics

Picking out what equipment to use can be difficult, luckily for you we partner with trusted manufacturers and can help you with consultations.

4. Choosing the control system

When designing a lighting product, the control system is important. Examples include:

  1. Motion sensing lighting controls which works on the principle of movement detection
  2. Light dimmers: this goes beyond the on and off function. Provides opportunity for reducing the intensity of light.
  3. Capacitive touch switches that have no moving mechanical parts.
  4. App control 
  5. Timers: these are programmable and can be programmed so that light is on for a specified period of time.
Product Design Guide
early stage prototype
concept to launch

Clearly the process of designing a lighting product requires patience and expertise both of which D2M can provide. Having successfully worked on children’s night lights, emergency lighting, portable battery powered light and event lighting products, you can be rest assured that working with D2M is the right call.

The design phase of any product is one of the most essential stages of product development hence the need for proper guidance. D2M offers a team of vast, passionate and highly experienced product designers to help develop, convert and fine-tune your initial ideas to a working reality. Carry on reading more about developing a new lighting product. 

D2M helps transform product ideas from basic concepts to production readiness. We ensure products designed meet the manufacturing requirements. Indeed it offers everything you need and more. If you’re ready to begin your product development journey, feel free to contact us!

Let us help you bring your new product to market.

If you’re looking to develop a new product or re-design an existing range but lack the in-house capacity or expertise to make it a reality, get in touch with us today to discuss your requirements. 

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Choosing a product design company

All the secrets, tips and tricks to finding the right product design partner.

Download D2M's PDF guide now and say goodbye to costly missteps and wasted R&D funds.

Secrets, tips & tricks to finding the right product design partner.

Download D2M's PDF guide now and say goodbye to costly missteps and wasted R&D funds.
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Confessions of a Product Designer

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