Five Rules of Thumb for Reflected Glare

Laura steps up to a display case to look at an eye-catching ceramic bowl.

The label says to notice the painted rim. But all she sees is the reflection of a bright track light.

She shifts left, then right. Then bends a little.

Laura isn’t looking at the bowl now. She is negotiating with the glass.

Here are my top five rules of thumb to help Laura next time:

Rule #1. Check the geometry.
Diagram where visitors stand, including seated and child-height. Make basic line drawings to see how glass reflects.

Rule #2. Control the source.
Fix the fixture. Move, aim, dim, shield, baffle, or snoot it before you blame the case.

Rule #3. Balance the brightness.
Glass acts like a mirror when one side is brighter. (See police station interview rooms.) Make sure the interior of the case isn’t dim in relation.

Rule #4. Use better glazing sparingly.
Anti-reflective glass is pricey. Use sparingly. It won’t make the other fundamental issues on this list go away.

Rule #5. Mock it up.
Renderings never capture real glare. Test early, before opening pressure makes fixes harder.

Here’s the thing:

Glare isn’t hard to fix — especially when geometry, source, balance, and mockups are all considered.

See you, and Laura’s bowl, in the galleries.

Warmly,
Jonathan

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MtM Word of the Day:
Snoot. A tube or sleeve added to the end of a track light fixture (or other fixture) to control spill, reduce glare, and narrow the beam. In museum exhibitions, it helps direct light onto an object while keeping brightness out of visitors’ eyes and off nearby surfaces and reflective display case glass.