Business office colour and design – the Google effect

Karen Haller 01
Karen Haller

Business interior colour and design - the Google effect - Google Bee hive. This opens a new browser window.

Many of us work, or have worked in brightly lit, minimalist, grey and impersonal offices.  I’m sure if you ask someone to describe their ideal work environment, it wouldn’t be this.  No-one says Ooh I love working in a grey, bland, monochrome office.  So why there are so many offices like this?

Given that most of us work in man-made environments, it’s very easy to lose connection with nature and its many colours. We find ourselves working within a very limited colour palette.

Business interior colour and design - the Google effect - Grey office cubicles. This opens a new browser window.

Business Interiors | The Google Effect | Typical grey monotone work environment

Think about how many motivational away days’ staff are sent on.  These courses are great, but of little to no use if the same staff return to the same grey workplace. It will only be a matter of time before they are back to how they were before they left – uninspired and lacking motivation.

Have you noticed the number of playful, fun office space interiors that are popping up? It seems we have swung from the minimalist colour, minimalist sensory stimuli to the multi-coloured, multi-sensory stimuli.

I call this the Google Effect.

Business interior colour and design - the Google effect - Google Zurich. This opens a new browser window.

Business Interiors | The Google Effect | Swiss staff got involved creating their ideal work space

Google are really breaking the mould when it comes to creating an environment which they believe will make for happy, motivated staff, reducing the number of sick days and, ultimately increase productivity.

To fit in with their brand ethos, Google have created a fun, playful environment using bright colours. They want to encourage new ideas and drive innovation.

 “Inject the right personality for your business brand”

Injecting personality into your work space is great. Just make sure you are injecting the right personality for your business brand. Not everyone is like Google or Pixel or an achingly hip PR firm. These design styles work for them because of the personality of the brand and  people, and the type of work they do. They are innovation companies – so creative, cool, fun environments using lots of bold, striking colours is perfect for them.

Business interior colour and design - the Google effect - staff area. This opens a new browser window.

Business Interiors | The Google Effect | Creative, cool and fun to inspire innovation.

 

Business interior colour and design - the Google effect - Pixar office. This opens a new browser window.

Business Interiors | The Google Effect | Pixar office, fun and playful

 

Playful Vs Productivity
What they need to be careful of is making sure the workplace doesn’t become too playful. Whilst staff are happy and motivated, it serves no business purpose if productivity is low.

Business interior colour and design - the Google effect - Google Office London11 - meeting room. This opens a new browser window.

Business Interiors | The Google Effect | Any colour if not used in the right proportion can create sensory overload

 

Injecting the right personality
This is when colour and design becomes very important. Don’t blindly jump on the Google bandwagon. You could just find yourself going from a grey, monochrome environment to a colourful playground and just swapping one set of problems for another.

By picking the right colours and incorporating into the right design, this will have a profound effect on your staff by:

1. Increasing staff motivation and a sense of belonging
2. Supporting staff in their daily tasks increasing productivity
3. Greatly reducing absenteeism.

Your view
I’d love to know what’s your ideal work environment? Fancy sitting up a tree house, or in a bee hive to get those creative juices flowing? Perhaps something more quiet and peaceful so you can concentrate.

Find out more about colour & design and your business interiors.

 

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