Office Decoration

The dynamics of office design have changed a great deal over the years, but modern concepts are almost unrecognizable from the traditional boardroom and cubicle-driven designs of the past. A quick look around the internet will reveal some stunning designs in the headquarters of companies as diverse as Shopify, Google, Airbnb, and the Cartoon Network.

For small operations and start-ups, these designs may be well out of reach, but you don’t have to have a huge budget or be part of a multinational corporation to create a workspace your employees will love coming to. In this post, we will address the question of how to make a cool office without breaking the bank.

Space

The first thing you should do before moving in sofas, pool tables, and dining tables is to check the size and dimensions of the available area. This may seem like common sense, but it is one of the things that many companies fail to take into account when redesigning office spaces or purchasing new furniture.

Sometimes, less is more, so carefully consider the quirks of your space and whether or not you can “create” more space by removing walls.

Let Everyone Know Who You Are

What do you want your office to say about your company? What do you want your employees to feel when they walk into the office? Simple things can make a massive impact in terms of impressions and workflow.

Having a feature wall which incorporates essential elements of your brand can make a massive impact. Also, glass surfaces on tables and walls, as well as chalkboards on the wall, can provide loads of areas to record creativity on the fly.

Colors

This is another area that can make a real difference. However, be mindful of using the right colors in the right rooms. For example, bright colors throughout the office can help with creativity but can also make people more impulsive. Likewise, darker colors are great for relaxing with a cup of coffee but may induce sleepiness at the desk, especially if the office doesn’t have much natural light coming through it.

The best thing is going for a scheme that reflects the work your employees will be doing. It is possible to mix and match without having to invest in a massive amount of different colors of paint.

Embrace Nature

Numerous studies have found that natural light is vital to the effectiveness and productivity of employees. Therefore, having glass partitions or wide-open spaces will help with the flow of the light. Knocking down walls can increase the cost of a project but will be well worth it in the long term.

Another way that you can make the office seem “airier” and more fun is by investing in plants for around the office and using outdoor furniture and grass in breakout areas to create a pleasant environment that can help your employees stay relaxed.

Chill-Out Areas

As mentioned above, having breakout areas or chill-out spots can make the office look significantly cooler. Companies such as Apple and Google are renowned for their quirky and fun chill-out zones.

Make use of redundant space by creating little nooks and crannies where employees can go to work or rest. Also, make the kitchen area a focal point for employees to come and exchange ideas over coffee or lunch. All these ideas can be realized without the need to invest a small fortune.

Office space is a precious resource which needs to be managed very carefully to ensure that it is a place conducive to productivity. A cluttered and stuffy office is likely to have a negative impact on how your employees work and leave them counting the seconds until they clock out.

With that in mind, take a look around your office and think if it is set up for optimum performance. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to invest in lots of new furniture or new office space to accommodate your staff. Often, simple changes can make a big difference, as these five tips for creating an organized office will show you.

Time to be Ruthless

Take a look around the office and identify the items of office furniture you use. Carefully assess your use of space and filing systems. If you recognize lots of dead space or furniture which isn’t fit for purpose, then it is time to get ruthless.

This may mean that you need to do some major shredding, or that you need to dispose of excess furniture. Some old storage cabinets and other furniture could even be repurposed. Either way, taking care of these space hoggers will free up lots of extra space to be used for other activities.

Think About Work Flows

When you start looking at your existing office layout, take the time to consider the workflows of the team members in certain areas. This will help you position the equipment and supplies so that they are readily available to the people that most need them.

A lot of time is wasted by employees having to spend lots of time looking for equipment, walking to a print-room, or searching high and low for important documents.

Think of the Trees

Many, many companies still use paper-based documents, which take up a lot of space in the office. The obvious solution to this is to move to a cloud system where records can be easily stored and shared. However, if you do insist on using paper, try and create effective methods of storage and disposal.

Do you really need documents from ten years ago? If not, get the shredder out and say goodbye to the dust collectors. Create a logical filing system so that people know exactly where to find notes on meetings, schedules, and action plans.

Think About Storage

Desk drawers or desktop organizers can make a real difference when trying to create clutter-free desks. Over recent years, there has been an increased focus on office design, and many furniture manufacturers have taken this into account by creating innovative solutions.

If you are trying to create a dynamic workplace, then you will have to have storage fit for this purpose.

Think About Your Company Culture

Think carefully about space and the type of work employees are likely to be doing. Some employees naturally require less stuff, while others will be more likely to spread out. Take this into account with your choice of furniture and at desk storage, so that creative types don’t infringe on more pragmatic workers’ worktops.

The performance levels of your staff are heavily influenced by the space that they work in. Cramped, stuffy offices can damage their level of productivity, while a comfortable, welcoming space can help to motivate them.

It is vital that you take the time to effectively plan the office space as an inadequate plan can result in a significant waste of time and money. There is no one size fits all approach, so it is helpful to know how to plan office space in a way which is both cost-effective and ideal for the needs of your staff.

Why Is Planning Office Space Important?

Your office is where most of your employees will be expected to work effectively, and where most of the key decisions in your business will be made. Therefore, it is vital that your office is designed a way that is conducive to productive work, collaboration, creativity; while also, making sure your employees feel comfortable.

To create the ideal workspace for your business takes time and money, and it goes way beyond just replacing old furniture with new and giving the office walls a bit of paint.

What Steps Do I Need to Take?

The first step is being very clear about what you want your employees to achieve when they are at work. Do your employees need to work in collaborative workgroups or do they spend a lot of time on the phone talking to customers? The type of work they will do will influence whether an open plan system or a cubicle system is the most appropriate layout.

Other things you need to consider before you start redeveloping your office include:

• making an inventory of equipment and current employee headcount
• making detailed measurements of the office layout
• thinking about how the office represents your brand image
• preparing a realistic budget that takes into account the cost of removing existing furniture and redeveloping the existing space

Open Plan versus Cubicle Systems

Many businesses have been moving towards more open plan office layouts as they help to facilitate more significant interaction between team members, while also allowing natural light to flow more easily around the office. However, this style isn’t for every business.

Cubicle systems are an ideal option if your staff spend a lot of time on the phone or need a quiet space to get reports finished. The main problem with this type of layout is the rigid nature of the furniture, which makes it hard to adapt

Both designs have their pros and cons, so it is crucial that you carefully consider the type of work your employees do and which layout will help them to work most effectively.

Planning Goes Beyond Furniture

Choosing the right furniture is an essential part of any office design, but this is just one element to consider. Maximizing the natural light which goes through the office helps to keep your employees focused. Also, using LED lighting and putting plants around the office can make the office feel fresher.

If you paint the walls, remember to choose a calming color scheme which encourages productivity. Shades of green, red, and blue have been found to promote a positive atmosphere in the workplace.

We live in a fast-paced world, and how we work and interact with each other seems to be in a constant state of flux. Businesses around the world are looking at ways to adapt their existing workflows and workspaces to meet these ever-changing needs.

In this article, we will look at the trending office workplace innovations which are currently driving creativity, innovation, and productivity and how these innovations can aid your business moving forward.

Collaborative Working Versus Remote Working

For many years, it seemed like remote working was going to become the standard. However, over the last couple of years, leading companies such as Apple, Google, and IBM have been getting their people back into the office.

It turns out that there is no substitute for real face-to-face collaborations, and these interactions provide opportunities for creativity and brainstorming.

Therefore, trends in office design have focused on creating spaces where employees can come together and discuss ideas in a relaxing environment. Taking a look at various websites will reveal office spaces that look more like coffee shops than traditional offices.

Green Offices

Biophilia has been a buzzword in office design over the past couple of years, and the movement towards ‘green’ offices doesn’t show any sign of letting up any time soon.

Simple changes have been found to have significant benefits regarding productivity, and businesses of all shapes and sizes have started looking at ways to bring the outdoors inside.

Adding plants as dividers, maximizing natural light, and using natural paints and materials help to create a light environment.

These changes help to improve the quality of air in the office and put your employees at ease instead of being stressed and tired like the employees you find in cramped, poorly lit, stuffy offices around the world.

Employee Well-Being Drives Productivity

The two changes mentioned above have been found to contribute to improved productivity and is a primary reason why companies are looking for innovative ways to improve office design.

Human interaction and employee well-being have been identified as critical drivers of creativity, and there has been a move towards removing barriers in the workplace and creating a homelier space.

Some companies have introduced dynamic spaces which can be adapted to fit the needs of a particular task, while others have focused on lifestyle approaches and integrated sofas, games rooms, coffee shops, and outside workspaces.

In all cases, they have been designed to get people moving around the office instead of spending hours stuck behind their desks.

A Changing World

While the importance of face-to-face interactions has driven changes in office design, the integration of technology has not been put on the back burner. In fact, technological changes are playing as important a role as ever, and innovations such as Visual Reality and Augmented Reality are likely to be pivotal in future developments.

We currently live in the data era, and many companies are looking at ways to integrate this data so that employees can more easily collaborate and access relevant documents.

Dropshare media systems, the use of artificial intelligence such as chatbots, and ‘virtual’ meetings are all appearing in the workplace and will require changes in office design as we move forward.