Designing the interior of an office can be a daunting task. It involves creating a workspace that is both aesthetically pleasing and functional. The interior design of an office must consider how people will use the space, how they move around it, and how to create a pleasant atmosphere. It should also take into account the overall brand, the company’s mission, and other factors such as budget, ergonomics, and sustainability.
Properly built office design not only solves the problem of ergonomic arrangement of employees, but also performs a number of other, no less important functions. It introduces customers or potential customers to the concept of the entire enterprise, increases the productivity of employees, has a positive effect on their physical, mental and emotional health. How to avoid gross errors in the planning, interior and stylistic solutions – read on.
The modern office – what is it like?
Interior design of the office is based not only on the location and style of furniture and wall color. As for the employees, for them, it is – in most cases – limited to the space of the desk (space). Distract from the work process, relieve the brain, or just to shake things up, you can use the following tips:
- A small slate board (like for schoolchildren) will allow you to reset the load at the moment when the brains start to boil. Just take a crayon and draw a funny face or smiley face on it. The item will be useful in that it can be used for group sketching birthday cards.
- The office interior will shed a little of its formality if you keep pens and markers in a Pringles chip can.
- Feel free to keep a mundane cactus on your desk. Studies have shown that office plants make clerks feel better by almost 50%, improve creativity by 43% and increase productivity by 39%. So put up a prickly flower and expect a bonus from the boss.
Choice of Style
Office style design is the first thing a companion sees when he arrives for a negotiation. It is not only the face of the company, but also its intellectual center. Here the most important decisions are made, meetings are held and contracts are concluded. Therefore its decoration should correspond to the company’s image and be a kind of example of impeccable work.
The most popular stylistic trends in office interiors are: American, European and Japanese design.
American office
The so-called Open Space appeared not so long ago, but it successfully supersedes the cabinet style of the Soviet era. It pursues the main goal, which is an open space for work and the unity of the entire team, including the management level. All the employees are in one room without big partitions and long corridors. The style implies the presence of light, portable partitions which, if necessary, can be used to divide the space for one or another employee.
The second feature of the American office interior design is a minimum of decorations. Only company logos and attributes relating to corporate rules are allowed. The color solution is expressed in accordance with the characteristic shades used by the company.
The seat of the boss is in the general hall, but set aside as a separate area. Glass or smart glass is most often used for this purpose. Visual isolation is achieved with blinds, straight monochrome curtains or Smart Glass adjustments.
European
The design of the European office corresponds to the analogy of the American office, containing small deviations. It uses the theme of open space built in the center of different functional offices. Meeting room, chief, break room, structural – all this is outside the general attention.
European style office interior design refers to hi-tech, minimalism, futurism. In contrast to the American style, decorative elements are applied here. This is manifested by engraved doors, reception desk, more ergonomic furniture is installed. Although bright manifestations are not observed here, the presence of drawing and completeness of forms is visible at a glance.
Japanese
When decorating an office in the Japanese style, first of all takes into account the personal individuality of representatives of the nation. First of all it is a high discipline, diligence, collectivism and determination to achieve the goal. The workplace is equipped according to the principle of their homes: a minimum of pomposity, restraint and as simple forms as possible.
The interior design of the office is built on the strict zoning of the space. The division is based on the principle of hierarchy. Ordinary employees work in a room without partitions, at a common table. The place may be separated by a portable partition, the height of not more than 1.5 m, but not always. There are interiors where activities are carried out at a single, for example, round table.
Another option for the design of the Japanese office is built on the school principle. Places of employees are arranged in the same way as the desks in the classrooms. The head of the department or the boss (in all cases) sits across from them, giving him the opportunity to control the work of his subordinates.
Color in modern office design
The color scheme in the design of the modern office plays a key role. The choice of shade depends on many factors. First of all it is the visual perception of the person and the passive psychological influence to which the employees will be exposed.
In addition to features associated with human perception, the choice of color modern office affects a number of factors of other importance:
- The area of the room.
- The direction of the windows, their size (sunny, not sunny side).
- Lighting quality (artificial, natural).
Following the above conditions, we can conclude:
- Warm tones are used for offices whose windows face north.
- Cold tones are for those that “look” to the south.
Also, the impact on the choice of color for the design of modern office have a few more conditions:
- The style of the interior of the room.
- Individual preferences of employees, the head.
- Style of furniture.
- Type of activity of the company.
- Psychological influence on the person.
Influence of color on the productivity of employees
Practice confirms that the psychological state has a significant impact on human performance, the ability and desire to concentrate to perform official tasks. Taken together, all of this is reflected in the performance and productivity of the company.
To maintain the psychological balance and increase the productivity of employees it is recommended to follow the tips that have been confirmed in practice:
- The use of multiple colors of decorative paint contributes to migraine and increases fatigue.
- Walls of calm, neutral tones increase productivity.
- The use of cool shades is preferable in small rooms. With their help, you can get a visual expansion of the narrowed space.
- The combination of warm and cold shades is considered optimal. In this situation, the human psyche will receive a positive impact.
- The green color has a beneficial effect on the eyes, able to provide the maximum concentration of employees. Psychologists assure that it calms and helps to collect thoughts. It is ideal for monotonous work requiring maximum concentration.
- Blue has similar properties. According to its positive features, it does not differ from its “herbal” counterpart. The main thing is not to confuse it with blue and your office will work at full capacity.
- Gray shades relieve emotional stress, calm and incline employees to sleep. It is proved that for women, such shades induce sadness and contribute to depression. With regard to men, the influence is a little weaker, but it works on similar principles.
- The use of yellow reduces mental activity, but is beneficial to emotional and expressive activity. Many creative offices use this color and show good business results.
- Red is a great color for creatives. It has a positive effect on creativity, invigorating. Not bad helps those whose work involves physical labor.
- Purple and blue are not desirable because of the reduced performance.
- Pink also has a negative impact on productivity.
- Bright tones in the office interior design tend to excite the nervous system.
The main objective in selecting the color of the office interior is strict compliance with the standards for the protection of employees. These include the preservation of health (including psychological, emotional) in the course of work. And the head of the company is responsible for his subordinates.
Smart Glass in Contemporary Office Design
Modern smart glass blends perfectly into any office interior. It is most often used for zoning the place of the boss or meeting room. In normal times it is transparent, when the power is turned off it acquires a matte color.
The advantages of “smart glass” when used in office interiors are as follows:
- Perfectly combines with any interior solutions.
- In off mode it can be used for viewing photo, video materials, corporate or motivational chronicles.
- The film responsible for darkening can be not only multicoloured, in tone with the walls, but also have an original image. For example, a corporate slogan, company logo.
The modern interior of the office of a successful company has long ceased to be boring, decorated according to Soviet, cabinet traditions. Today it combines several indicators: style, convenience and comfort of employees, a combination of original design ideas and corporate traditions of the company.
