Creating studio conditions for hybrid work with Steelcase's Eclipse Light

A welcome outcome of two years of lockdown, is, for many, the relocation of the office to, well, wherever you lay your hard drive. Hybrid working has become the norm, and with it come the conveniences of saving on commute time and being master of your own, more flexible timetable.

With it also comes the need for remote meetings, and a reliance on our webcams to beam us into virtual conferences. This, in turn, can prompt all sorts of energy-zapping visual distractions and quality concerns. Broadcasting ourselves into homes and offices around the world is leading to a need for studio-like conditions if we are to retain some boardroom decorum.

With remote convening seemingly here to stay, product designers are thankfully coming to the rescue with a new category of lighting designed to bring just such professional polish to virtual gatherings. US-based Steelcase, a leader in the development, production and supply of office furniture and accessories around the world, has been quick to respond to this new need with the Steelcase Eclipse Light, a complete contemporary solution for desktop lighting.

Designed by the Steelcase Design Studio, an in-house team of designers who are renowned for their in-depth research capabilities that step beyond simple ergonomics into areas of neuroscience, the Eclipse Light isn’t just about softening the lines of our screen faces. It also adds wellbeing considerations to the mix by incorporating flicker-free LED technology to eliminate the pulsations that, in less stable lighting, are often held responsible for eye strain, headaches and fatigue.

The key attribute, however, is that the task lamp can adjust with ease to illuminate all office eventualities. And with the world going hybrid, there’s often many things happening at a single desk. Working both from home and the office is the new ideal that offers choice to employees, broadens the geographical reach of teams, and improves the ever-elusive life/work balance. But if we are operating in different modes, all our supporting tools need to be adaptable, too.

Functional flexibility is driving the latest generation of officeware. Fitting both home and office environments, the Eclipse Light is a prime example of a product that’s ideally adapted to its surroundings. It can be switched with ease from use as a traditional task light for focused work on a horizontal plane, to use as soft, shadow-filling illumination for the face during video calls. In addition to this remote-working functionality, its structure has been designed with a horizontal bar hovering just above the stand, providing an anchored dock for a mobile phone or tablet in either portrait or horizontal orientation.

‘Most lighting solutions are not designed for video calls, nor can they be adapted to changing light situations,’ the Steelcase team explains. The Eclipse Light, however, is made so that you can control your lighting and the brightness level depending on your task with operations that allow for a smooth transition from 0% to 100% dimming (an attached lever glides in a circular motion to adjust intensity), while the light’s head swivels to allow for a more targeted exposure.

‘In video orientation (facing up), it illuminates the user perfectly to make a great first impression on any screen,’ explains the team. ‘The innovative copper-tinted ring mirror, meanwhile, evenly spreads light across your face and highlights your eyes with a subtle, reflected circle of light around each pupil.'

With every remote connection turning our desks into mini TV studios, the Eclipse Light at last adds a tool to turn ourselves into poised anchormen and women at the simple upward flick of a light. Under professional standard lighting, the visual quality of long-distance meetings is taken care of, so that our brains are freed up to focus on the audio. Now that’s what we call multi-tasking.

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