If you haven’t already, check out my post below that has tips for rendering an all black task chair. A lot of these tips are similar, but all white has its own challenges. Really, any monochromatic furniture typical is going to be the most difficult to get the right contrast and lighting. For a while, the all white trend was going strong, but I have seen it fade a bit. However I do still see RFP’s requiring all white renderings, in an effort to level the playing field among all responses..
Here are my tips for getting all white typical to look dynamic and interesting. You can go from this before to the after on the right!
1. Use Outline Overlay.
2. Try using a darker floor. Instead of a shiny white plastic floor (which is my go to for white sweep typicals), consider dark grey floor, or even a dark concrete or darker carpet. However, do note that you will see the edge of the floor, so consider your flooring size. This doesn’t always work… sometimes the expanse of dark floor overtakes the typical, so use your best judgement on this one.
3. Use overhead lighting, but offset it, so it is NOT directly over the furniture. This will create shadows, which will give your rendering some depth. If it is directly over the furniture it can create horrible glare.
The blue arrow shows my overhead light- way out to the side. The red arrow shows the spotlight- set to shine right below the worksurface (set to a lower brightness)
4. Accessorize! Monitors, phones etc will create shadows, depth and contrast for the eye.
5. Seating- whatever you do, try your best to avoid an all black task chair. The contrast can be very harsh and difficult to manipulate the post processing.
6. Post Processing (see other blog post on post processing for more info on that):
Exposure- I typically go any where from -2 to -8 for this. It makes the glare less harsh. Drawing will look dark, but the steps below should alleviate that
Brightness- Turn it up!
Contrast- anywhere from -2 to -20 to wash out the color a bit.
Saturation- Sometimes I play in the negative here as well to wash out color even more
7. Add pops of color if you can (accessories, task lights, slat wall, accent fabric, screens, etc). My thought on this is: “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission”. You can always notate that accessories are not included in the price or something along those lines. If the goal is to have the best rendering in an RFP situation and sometimes it pays off to bend the rules a bit. Of course, every situation is different and your job as a designer is to make that call with your team if you think it is worth the risk.
just a plain Jane rendering- no post processing, no accessories. A typical 5 minute rendering.
With Lighting, post processing, and a few accessories, all white or grey scale.
With a pop of Chartreuse!
Or with a pop or orange!
And those are my tips for All-White monochromatic furniture renderings!