If you are asked to picture a scene from Las Vegas or New York back in the 1950s, the chances are that the image you conjure up in your mind will feature neon lights. These colourful and unique forms of lighting have been around for over 100 years, and are part of a classic era.
Though over the decades other forms of lighting have appeared on the market, such as LED, there is still a place in the hearts and minds of many for the brilliance of neon lighting, and how it takes us on a journey into times gone by.
Where it all started
British chemists William Ramsey and Morris Travers discovered neon gas in 1989 from a sample of agron, from which they also discovered krypton and xenon. By freezing the argon using a technique involving liquid air, they collected the evaporated gases, which they then exposed to high voltage. This led to the test tube housing the gases to turn bright red.
Just a few years later in 1902, the first neon light was created by Georges Claude, a French inventor and engineer. He had started experimenting with neon gas, and applied an electrical current to the sealed test tube that was holding the neon gases. He discovered that by adding additional gases such as mercury, helium and krypton, he could create a range of different colours.
Neon lights used for marketing
The first usage of neon lights for marketing was in 1912, where Claude sold a neon sign to a barber shop in the city of Paris. Following the patent application that he filed in the United States for neon lights, he created his own company, known as the Claude Neon Lights Inc, and started taking orders, one of which was for the famous and renowned Paris Opera House.
The big breakthrough for the company came several years later in 1923 when a Los Angeles auto dealer requested two neon signs for his dealership. The signs consisted of the name “Packard”, which were the high-quality luxurious cars that he sold, which were made by the Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit. In recent years, alongside traditional neon offerings, companies like hypemakerz have introduced innovative LED light bottle presenters and LED marquee boards, diversifying the market with modern alternatives.
Today there are several companies around the world such as Neon Mama, that provide a range of neon lights for marketing and other uses.
Peaking in the 80s
The use of neon lights reached its peak around the 1980s, following on from the golden period of 1920 to the 1960s. It is something that is synonymous with the decade of big hair, electro beats, computer games and the whole move from rock into pop music culture.
It wasn’t being used as much for advertising or marketing purposes as had been during the preceding decades, but it was still popular enough to be making appearances for various stores using it for signage as well as decorative purposes. However, technology was advancing, and we would soon be entering the world of LED lighting.
Gone, but not replaced
Though from the 1990s onwards, LED lighting became the main form of lighting for all types of purposes, such as for homes, departments stores and shops, and even street lighting, it was never actually able to fully replace or replicate neon lighting.
Neon light signs are much more aesthetically pleasing, offering a very warm glow that instantly attracts your attention. LED lights on the other hand are much brighter and much more visible from further away, but they are not a patch on the neon originals.
In addition to the advancement in technology, pricing also played an important role, and with the prices for LED lights and components constantly dropping, they were the preferred choice for architects, advertisers and marketing professionals.
The start of the comeback
Though LED lighting is the future and the way forward, there has been a resurgence in neon lights and over the past decade or so, the manufacturers of neon lights have started to compete with the other light technologies.
There are a number of neon companies that are fighting back through means of innovative marketing strategies, and are rebranding neon as a form of art, rather than merely a simple lighting solution.
Many shops and businesses are slowly beginning to understand and appreciate the benefits that custom neon business signs has over other alternatives, and there has been a gradual increase, no matter how small, in the number of new neon signs that are being created for various businesses.
Neon lights can be made to match exactly with the colours of a specific brand or company. This is something that LED lights are currently unable to do, and they are much more limited in the colour range they can offer.
This comeback for neon is literally a new take on the original purpose of neon lighting, and one that is seeing neon moving into other markets in addition to advertising and marketing.
Neon gifts
If you’ve searched for a gift for a friend or loved one at some point during the past few years, you will most likely have come across a range of neon light gifts. No longer is the industry solely focusing on advertising, but has spread its wings and allowing people to create their own custom designed neon lighting.
This can be a truly unique gift for a wedding or birthday. There are so many different designs that you can choose from, and you can choose from a wide range of colours for the lighting. This is the ace up the sleeve for neon lights. The LED alternatives cannot compete when it comes to the range of colours. The palate for LED is quite limited, while for neon, new colours are being made available due to improvements in high output phosphor technologies.
Some final thoughts
Many people had neon lighting as a dead and buried option a few decades ago, and the emergence of LED lighting certainly looked like it was the final nail in the coffin for neon.
However, as with many things, there is a demand for things that are retro that remind us of the past, when life was probably a lot easier and less complicated than we find it today. Neon is something that continues to give us feelings of happiness and warmth, despite us living in the cold, harsh world of LED technology.
