The Society of Light and Lighting (SLL) are pleased to announce the launch of a brand-new edition of Lighting Guide 8: Lighting for Museums and Galleries.

An artefact with lighting from different angles from typical museum light fittings – a ‘huge range of effects can be created by just altering the brightness or direction of light’

The previous version of the SLL LG8, which covers the lighting of museums and art galleries, was published in 2015. However, there have been a number of dramatic changes in lighting technology in the past six years, so an update was required.

The publication starts with the foundations of lighting design, and explains what light can do and how it can be controlled. This is important, given that some readers will not be lighting specialists. Where museums and galleries are concerned, there are many particular challenges – such as reducing reflections and glare, and getting colours and relative intensities right – that can only be solved if the principles of light are understood.

The three great variables – brightness, colour and direction – are analysed and explained, and the guide helps describe how they control glare, affect the softness of shadows and the rendering of colour.

You can find the guide and more information here.

Guide author Mark Sutton Vane summarises the key changes in this article here.