There is a range of criteria which your office should obviously satisfy. It should be interesting, but not distracting; capable of fostering focus and concentration, but not boredom; relaxing for your workers, but not to the extent where they treat it like a spa.
It’s no wonder that designing an office can make you feel like Batman trying to unravel one of the Riddler’s riddles, but you might be surprised by how many rules you can actually get away with breaking when it comes to office design.
Today, we’re going to be talking about how to design an office that sends a distinct message to clients and employees alike.
When designing your office, it’s important to keep your company’s values and culture in mind. What are the things that are most important to your company? What kind of atmosphere do you want to create for your employees? Once you have a good understanding of your company’s values and culture, you can start to design an office that reflects them.
For example, if your company is all about creativity and innovation, you might want to design an office with plenty of open space and natural light. If your company is more traditional, you might want to design an office with more formal furniture and décor.
No matter what your company’s values and culture are, it’s important to choose furniture and décor that is both functional and stylish. You want your office to be a place where people can work productively, but you also want it to be a space that is inviting and comfortable.
When choosing furniture, make sure to consider the needs of your employees. Do they need a lot of storage space? Do they need a comfortable chair to sit in all day? Make sure to choose furniture that is both functional and stylish.
The same goes for décor. Choose décor that reflects your company’s values and culture. If your company is all about creativity, you might want to hang artwork that is inspired by famous artists. If your company is more traditional, you might want to hang artwork that is more classic.
Finally, don’t forget to use color and lighting to create a desired mood. The colors and lighting in your office can have a big impact on the overall mood of the space. Use color and lighting to create a mood that is conducive to productivity, creativity, or relaxation.
By following these tips, you can create an office that sends a distinct message to clients and employees alike. Your office space can be a powerful tool for promoting your company’s brand and values, and for creating a positive and productive work environment.
The following design ideas certainly attest to that…
Overlaying a period space with modern elements
5 Ways to Make the Office More Inviting
Right now, your workplace might be a rather drab, cookie-cutter office – a “vanilla box”, as designers would call it, though that piece of parlance does rather make it sound like ice cream. You could truly feel like the cat who got the (ice) cream if you were to move into a vintage building instead.
Better still, you could decorate that space with modern, up-to-date elements. “It’s an incredible opportunity for not only historic preservation, but also adaptive reuse,” Inc. staff writer Kevin J. Ryan quotes one interiors expert as saying.
Color your staff curious with color-blocking
State-of-the-Art Office Furnishings
The process of color-blocking involves placing solid colors from opposite ends of the spectrum alongside each other rather than subtly blending different hues through gradients.
It’s hard for the resulting effect not to instantly draw the eye. Displaying, say, pinks alongside greens and blues adjacent to yellows and oranges can give your office walls the punchy, vibrant impact of an Andy Warhol artwork. However, the color arrangements don’t have to be completely random.
You could, for example, give each area of your office its own distinct color, therefore helping employees and clients to see where they should be and when.
Open the pod bay doors, HAL
Remember open-plan offices? Actually, you probably wish you could forget them. At some point, they took off amidst a blast of hype about their supposed benefits for fostering collaboration. Then, they went out of fashion as more of their drawbacks became clearer.
CNBC cites research revealing that, in open-plan offices, 90% of employees experience rises in stress levels, blood pressure, conflict and turnover rates. However, recent years have seen pods introduced to provide workers with quiet spaces in which to take phone calls or even just quick breaks.
These sleek, self-contained booths look set to rescue the reputation of open-plan spaces – and with it, the sanity of your staff. This, in turn, would bode well for your clients’ experiences with your staff.
Office design that is… anti-office
Setting Up an Office for Success
You might have expected the lobby of a hotel or airport to feel too distracting as a place to work… until you actually tried working there, perhaps during a corporate trip. Doesn’t it work surprisingly well? You could take cues for your office back home, such as by adding luxurious furniture.
Find construction companies and interior designers that are experts in designing offices and helping clients to notice unique, exciting possibilities like these.
