Picture your dream job. What does your ideal office space look like? Maybe it includes a beautiful view, complete silence, and a heater in the winter. Perhaps your dream work environment puts you outside near the water — enjoying flexible hours and vitamin D. Whatever you’re picturing, you can probably admit that the job you wish you had is all about the atmosphere.
Astute Communications is home to many talented designers, and creating a unique and branded office climate is something that we take very seriously. Because we offer design services, it is important to channel those talents into all aspects of our visible brand that a client — or potential client — may see. However, no matter what field you work in, building an aesthetic space for employees and clients to appreciate is game-changing.
Here are five relatively simple ideas for cultivating a welcoming, unique atmosphere within your place of business.
Use the “Coolest” Office Colors
Believe it or not, colors utilized in the workplace can do more than simply exist as eye-pleasingly aesthetic touches.
An infographic featured by Entrepreneur goes into detail concerning how colors psychologically affect office productivity. The psychology of color is extremely fascinating to research. For example, blue is known as a “stable and calming” color, making it an excellent wall color choice when attempting to increase productivity in the office. In addition, green, a color we enjoy experimenting with here at Astute, is ideal for those who work longer hours — or simply spend more time in the office — because green is less likely than other colors to cause eye fatigue.
Try to incorporate blues and greens into your office space in any way that you can to increase office productivity and decrease eye fatigue — or to just spruce up the place with cool, earthy tones.
Fuel the Brain
At our office, snacks are very important. Eva Selhub, MD., Contributing Editor of Harvard Health agrees: “…Your brain requires a constant supply of fuel. That “fuel” comes from the foods you eat — and what’s in that fuel makes all the difference. Put simply, what you eat directly affects the structure and function of your brain and, ultimately, your mood.”
One awesome (and tasty) way to make your office a place people want to be is to provide a variety of snacks — preferably those that are good for the brain and will, in turn, increase office productivity. Brain foods that might work for the office include:
Soybeans, nuts, flaxseed
Dark chocolate
Berries (particularly blueberries)
Almonds, hazelnuts
Peanuts (check for allergies among employees)
Avocados
Coffee
Lighten Up
This goes without saying — the more natural light, the better. Seriously. Nobody wants to work in a windowless room, a dark cubicle in the corner, or a space littered with florescent bulbs attempting to overcompensate for a lack of sunlight.
A 2017 study completed at Northwestern University linked workplace daylight exposure to sleep, activity, and quality of life. “Day-shift office workers’ quality of life and sleep may be improved via emphasis on light exposure and lighting levels in current offices as well as in the design of future offices,” says co-author of the study, doctoral candidate Ivy Cheung.
In the winter, or if there’s no way around the windowless room problem, try adding a personal desk lamp on employees’ workspaces — or suggest light therapy boxes (sun lamps) for mood improvement or in place of natural light.
Choose Lively Office Decor
Astute’s favorite way to decorate: plants! Maybe the fact that plants are a cool, green color — less eye fatigue! — contributes to many offices’ incorporation of live decor in their spaces. Nursery and Garden Industry’s study on the positive effects of office plants concluded that those with plants brought into their place of work benefitted from:
30% reduction in confusion
37% reduction in anxiety
38% reduction in fatigue
44% reduction in anger
58% reduction in depression
Read more about the benefits of office plants here. We are obsessed!
Branding Matters
To conclude, it’s important to keep your company’s branding in mind when designing and organizing your workspace. For instance, if green isn’t one of your colors, maybe yellow — thought to promote optimism and stimulate creativity — is the best choice for your office walls. Although you do want to cultivate a desirable workspace, you should also set out to capture the unique essence of your brand. If you can do both, your desirable atmosphere is all set!
-Written by Lily Tillman