It only makes sense that your office design should reflect your brand. Are you a wellness company that targets corporate clients? You’ll want them to feel calm and relaxed every time they enter your office. Do you teach music and sell instruments? You’ll want students to feel the artistry from entrance to studio.
However, there’s a difference between an office design reflecting your brand and thoughtlessly duplicating it. When structuring your workspace to represent your company values and aesthetic, there are four particular ways companies tend to go wrong.
Overcrowding
Your products and services are visible everywhere, and it’s suffocating. Companies tend to fill their walls with proof of their accomplishments and growing clientele. While nothing’s wrong with a trophy rack or a few framed photos, something is unsettling about seeing them everywhere you turn.
When displaying your products, services, and evidence of your achievements, it’s always best to do them sparingly. Place them in strategic areas like in the reception, the meeting rooms, and in the hallways. Companies that produce music can use your impressive collection of vinyl records and some autographed music memorabilia in-between as décor. It’s by using your products or photos of your services sparingly and wisely that you’re able to make a good impression on prospective clients.
Plastering Your Values Everywhere
Making your company mission, vision, and values visible to both employees and clients has been an office trend for a long time. However, what used to be printed on tarpaulin stands or framed are now stenciled on walls as part of the decoration. The problem with this is that it’s tempting to plaster them everywhere to serve as a constant reminder to everyone, and it tends to be jarring.
When incorporating your mission, vision, and values, you can do it more subtly and effectively by creating spaces representing them. Do you value teamwork above all? Design an open space where your staff can brainstorm and collaborate on tasks. Do you give a premium on well-being? Include biophilic design in your office and designate areas for napping and quick breaks. Think of ways to show–not tell– the importance of honesty, kindness, professionalism, and promptness through your design.
Sticking to the Same Shade
Remaining true to your logo’s colors are essential to reflecting your brand, but remember to be creative by playing with different shades. Using only the same shades for your wall, floors, furniture, and décor doesn’t create a balanced and appealing office aesthetic. This is especially true if you’re playing with vibrant colors like orange, yellow, and red. They may look nice on your website and product packaging, but not as a theme for your meeting rooms and work stations.
Color psychology is another consideration you have to make. Blue is often used for productivity, yellow for optimism, and green for ease. Toning them up and down can achieve different effects, which calls for caution. You don’t want your office to look too relaxing that your employees feel sleepy, and you also don’t want it to be so exciting that it’s distracting. Use your brand’s color palette wisely and aim for the right contrasts that will help your team be as creative and productive as they can be.
Everything has Your Logo on It
Reinforcing your company’s identity shouldn’t mean plastering your logo on every table, window, and door. Like displays of your products and services, you want to be strategic about where you put them. The most common and effective choice is placing your logo on the glass so that visiting clients and passersby will know at once that it’s your office. Don’t feel the need to personalize your furniture or to create flashy signage at the reception area as though people might forget that it’s your office.
As compelling as the designs you see online are, it’s best to choose just two or three to incorporate in your office to maximize their impact. Instead of displaying your logo or slogan in their original design, try a different font and a neutral color that will blend with your aesthetic. Whenever you do want to draw attention to them, use localized lighting to do so.
Keep It Simple
Excessiveness is the enemy of good office design. For your workspace to effectively reflect your brand, you have to keep it simple but creative. Above all, always remember your objectives. When your office becomes an extension of your brand, you help your employees and your clients embrace your business identity more easily. You’ll never know when it might be the competitive edge you need to get ahead of your competitors.
