Designing an office is no easy task, especially if you’re doing it yourself. The list of things you need to keep in mind can seem almost endless: your budget, employees’ needs and wants, clients’ preferences, practical concerns like durability, your own tastes in office interior design and so on. So to simplify the mammoth task, here’s the ultimate checklist of office interior design essentials.
Here’s How to Nail Office Interior Design
It might sometimes seem that workplace design is all about aesthetics and presentation. The most crucial responsibilities appear to be installing the most advanced technology, adding luxurious materials, and accommodating the latest trend in workplace architecture like nap pods and full-service baristas. While many of these can undoubtedly add the final touch that your office interior design requires, getting the fundamentals right is far more crucial.
1. Put Comfort Over Everything Else
It may be tempting to go all out on premium materials with the highest-end tech. But if you’re working on a more limited budget, put the essentials first. This includes comfortable office chairs that offer the proper lumbar support and strikes the perfect balance between firmness and softness. Special ergonomic chairs are worth investing in, as they have proven to greatly improve back pain, muscle spasms, and productivity among office workers.
On the other hand, desks are equally important. Make sure they are large enough for each employee to work comfortably and have sufficient storage. Again, your desks will be mass-produced, so ensuring their height is adjustable to each employee’s body is essential. Also, standing desks are far from a fad and can offer much-needed relief to employees that spend all day sitting down.
2. Nail the Lighting
The most well-designed office in the world is of no use if it’s illuminated inappropriately.
Letting in as much natural light as possible should be your top priority, as this has proven to be one of the most influential factors in maximising employee productivity and improving health. Making this one small alteration has resulted in a 51% decrease in the prevalence of eyestrain, a 63% decrease in headaches, and a 56% decrease in drowsiness.
Artificial lighting in workspaces should be uniform, calm and bright as it helps employees focus on the tasks at hand. But, it should not be so excessive that it hurts their eyes—morning daylight would be a good comparison. Ideally, the lights could be adjusted to become slightly dimmer and warmer in the late evening, so employees working late do not feel strained.
You can switch up the lighting in recreational spaces by adding warm tones and fixtures like pendant lights and standing lamps that create a more relaxed and cosy atmosphere.
3. Colour Schemes Matter
Colour psychology tells us that the colours surrounding us profoundly impact our mood, productivity and health. Warm colours like red and orange energise employees and make them more detail-oriented and productive, but that does not mean you should paint your walls red. Instead, bright colours are best used as accents and finishing touches for aesthetic and practical reasons—too much of it is overstimulating and agitating. The same goes for other stand-out shades like lime and neons.
Blue is fantastic for creativity, and it can be used both as an accent and as a primary colour in its more subdued shades.
Moody colours like deep greys, purples and browns can create a luxurious, intimate effect in a home but are not a good choice for the office. When used in excess, they can be depressing and make rooms seem dark and claustrophobic.
4. Turn Down the Volume
Open office spaces are superior to the boxy cubicles of the 20th century in many ways, but they give rise to a new problem—excessive and distracting noise in the workspace. The lack of sound privacy, distractions and noise are severe problems for employees, impacting their overall wellbeing and efficiency. However, there’s a lot you can do to solve this problem.
To begin with, replace loud flooring like concrete and ceramic tiles with ones that absorb sounds like engineered wood or LVT (luxury vinyl tile). You can also install acoustic ceilings that absorb some of the sound and reduce reverberation within a large space. Installing sound-absorbing wall panels is also an excellent option to avoid dealing with excessive noise.
Little additions like plush, high-backed chairs and even houseplants around the office can also help quieten your space.
The most effective way to create a quiet, peaceful office is to change the layout slightly.
5. Tweak the Layout
A completely open plan office design might seem to be the best choice for your employees, but this is not always the case. The lack of privacy, the aforementioned sound issue, and the inability to customise your own workspace can make it a less than ideal choice.
This certainly doesn’t mean we’re advocating for a return to a layout of little squares in a grid made with high partitions. Instead, choose a more modern office plan. Easily moveable barriers, for instance, allow employees to work in whatever manner they find most comfortable. Designated quiet nooks or collaboration rooms can also provide spaces for your employees to work in silence, both alone and with collaborators.
Finally, consider trying out the Activity Based Working or agile model, where employees are not tied to a particular desk but instead work in different spaces depending on the task. For instance, a team that needs to be in touch with each other constantly would set up their workspace in a conference room. A person needing privacy would go to a designated booth, while a person who needs to make a phone call would go to a space dedicated to this sort of work.
Still a little overwhelmed by creating your own office or just in need of help with some tough design calls? Book a free consultation with Hipcouch and get some expert advice! Our designers and vendors can help you strike the perfect balance between comfort, convenience and elegance in your workspace.