August 2022

Workspace lighting

Whether you work at home or in an office, sit behind a desk all day or be creative with your hands, a well-designed workspace with the right lighting is essential. Is your (home) office well lit? Read our tips for choosing the right lighting for your workspace in this article.

Tips for workplace lighting

Good lighting at your workspace, that sounds obvious. Something you probably never give a second thought. Until you start thinking about the design of your study or office. What is good workspace lighting and what do you need to take into account?

In most workspaces you have to deal with natural daylight. This not only provides a lot of light but also ensures contact with the outside world. Sufficient daylight is very important and has a positive effect on your productivity and concentration. It also brings a disadvantage: sunlight shining on your computer or laptop. Very annoying if you work a lot on a screen. So take this into account if you place a desk next to or near a window.

When choosing lighting for your workspace, you can choose from different types of lamps: table lamps, floor lamps, desk lamps and pendants. The choice you make depends on, among other things, the recommended light output, the presence of daylight and the work you do.

Tip 1: Sufficient light

Sufficient (natural) light in your workplace is very important. After all, your (home)office must be lit in such a way that you can do your work. Good lighting means light coming from different directions and illuminating the room evenly. With basic lighting, such as a ceiling lamp or LED lighting, you immediately light up the whole room. You can also choose indirect lighting, where a lamp on the ceiling directs the light upwards. This ensures minimal reflection on your screen, but is not sufficient for concentrated working or reading. For this you need functional lighting, such as a desk lamp or floor lamp, which you can direct exactly where you need the light.

Tip 2: LED lighting

Do you have little or no daylight in your workplace? Then it's important to choose artificial lighting with the right colour temperature and brightness. LED lighting is the way to go and a sustainable and energy-efficient way to light up your workplace. It is very diverse and comes in different light intensities and colour temperatures, so there's always one that meets your requirements.

Light output

The right light output at your workplace at home or in the office is very important. But what do we mean by that? Light output is the total quantity of light emitted in a room and is expressed in LUX. For a workplace, a minimum illuminance of 500 LUX is recommended. But how many lamps do you need to achieve this? You can find out the number of lumens on the packaging of a lamp. Lumen indicates how much light a lamp emits. Using the following formula you can calculate how many bulbs you need to achieve the desired light output.

Desired light intensity * surface area m² = number of lumens required / number of lumens per bulb = number of bulbs required for the room

Flicker-free lighting

Old fluorescent tubes sometimes have a tendency to flicker. Very annoying when you are concentrating on your work. Fortunately, in many workplaces fluorescent lighting is being replaced more often by LED lighting or LED tubes. LED lamps are flicker-free and are therefore a good solution to this problem!

The color temperature

The color temperature of a lamp also plays an important role in choosing the right lighting for your workplace. The color of the light has a major influence on your performance and productivity. Bright, white light ensures you can concentrate better and you become tired less quickly.

A color temperature of at least 4000 Kelvin (K) is recommended for workplaces. This ensures that you remain alert and focused.

The requirements for lighting according to the Working Conditions Act

Are you responsible for the furnishing and lighting of your office and/or workplace? If so, there are a number of obligations that you must comply with under the Working Conditions Act. Good light is not only functional, but is also of great importance to safety.

The light present at workplaces must not pose a risk to health and safety. Think, for example, of the risk of tripping in a space that is too dark or headaches and fatigue as a result of too little or poor lighting.
Make sure that enough daylight enters the room. If this is not possible, provide sufficient artificial light.
When working on a monitor, make sure there are suitable sunshades to prevent direct sunlight from shining on the screen.

Would you like to read more about the legislation and obligations for workplace lighting? Visit the website of Arboportaal.

Choosing suitable workplace ligthing

Tonone has various lamps that are suitable as workplace lighting. Are you looking for a functional lamp for your desk? The Bolt series consists of 7 different models of desk lamps. So there's always one that fits your workplace. Prefer a lamp above your desk? You can choose between the Bolt Pack pendant or the Mr. Tubes LED pendant.

Now that you know what to consider when decorating and lighting your (home) office, all you need is inspiration. On Instagram en Pinterest we share the home om many of our lamps. Follow us for inspiration or subscribe to the Tonone newsletter. Of take a look at some awesome projects or hometours on our website.