How Office Design Can Support Creativity and Innovation

Many companies pride themselves on being creative, innovative, and cutting-edge. These buzzwords, while an important pillar and cornerstone for any company to hold, are also a vital key to staying competitive in the market. However, while it is easy to say that you pride your company on its creativity and innovation, it is another thing to support these qualities.

Often overlooked, the workplace itself can serve as an important place to foster and support these areas. Creating a thoughtful office design can inspire your employees to think outside of the box, foster collaboration between different teams, and leave your staff inspired to do their greatest work.

Here are seven ways you can unlock creativity and innovation in your workspace with expert design tips from the team at Interior Fusion.

1.    Design Flexible Spaces

Rows of endless cubicles and conference rooms no longer cut it for the modern worker. Teams more than ever need a flexible work environment to allow them to complete various tasks from brainstorming sessions to final campaign launches. A flexible environment allows spaces to change depending on work needs, whether your team is spread across three different continents and needs video conferencing abilities, or a specific team member needs a quiet space for individual focus, having these designated flexible workspaces go a long way in ensuring your employees can remain agile and creative.

Use modular furniture, movable partitions, and other flexible pieces to allow the space to change depending on the work at hand.

2.    Use Biophilic Design

Biophilic design brings the outdoors and nature into the interior workspace. This helps to create a calm oasis that has been proven to stimulate creativity and improve employee morale. To do this, add indoor plants, install a living green wall, or incorporate water elements such as a running fountain in a communal area that all employees use. When installing new fixtures or furniture, use a blend of different natural materials such as wood, stone, or bamboo. Bringing the outdoors in helps your employees feel more connected to their surroundings, opening the mind to new ideas and innovation.

3.    Incorporate Natural Lighting

Lighting is important, but not all lights are the same. Natural lighting can help to brighten moods, reduce stress, help employees feel more energized, and boost creativity. Position desks near windows to take advantage of the sun’s natural light. If your current workspace does not have access to natural light, use a mixture of modern hanging fixtures and floor and desk lamps with adjustable LED lights that mimic daylight. Use wall colors that reflect light well to brighten up your space.

4.    Choose An Inspiring Color Palette

Colors have a huge impact on your employee’s creativity and overall mood. Colors in the blue family help improve concentration while a fun and bright yellow stimulates creativity and innovation. Orange is energizing and red signals boldness to the mind. Neutral colors with a bold accent color help grab attention and pique visual interest, without being overwhelming to the eyes and brain.

Use this to incorporate your brand’s colors into the overall design of your office whether it is through accent walls, pops of color through decorative accent pieces throughout your workplace, or fun pieces of artwork.

5.    Design An Open Space

An open office design has become increasingly popular over the past decade. These workplaces are often associated with creativity, but too much openness can be distracting. Striking a balance between open spaces that foster collaboration with quiet individual spaces that promote concentration are key.

Adding elements such as sound-absorbing panels, designated quiet zones, singular work pods, and carpeting help to dampen noise, while keeping concentration and innovation high.

6.    Create A Space That Moves

It is now well-acknowledged that sitting at a hard desk chair for eight or more hours every day not only impacts one’s physical health, but also mental health. Being stationary for prolonged periods of time reduces oxygen flow to the brain resulting in dull thoughts and a lack of spark. Incorporating furniture that adapts to employee movement is an easy addition to your current office design.

Add standing or sit-to-stand desks and walking pads under desks can help promote movement throughout the workday. Encouraging your employees to stand up and walk for a few minutes every hour or to use the stairs between floors can also help employees move more throughout the day. This extra movement increases energy levels and keeps mental morale high.

7.    Integrate Technology Intentionally

Companies now depend on connectivity. Whether it is video conferencing abilities for teams around the world, to wireless computer set-ups, to smartboards, technology should enhance the workspace, not make it more frustrating. When designing your workspace, think about the technology you and your employees use on a daily basis and then determine if there are any areas that benefit from technology.

Adding technology for the sake of adding technology is not productive and hinders the creativity and innovation process rather than supporting it, so intentionally adding the right solutions to your design is important.

Fun and inspiring colors, flexible spaces, natural elements, and intentional technology are just a few ways you can boost your employee’s creativity and innovation through your workplace design. These design choices all play a role in supporting your employees, so they feel more comfortable and motivated in their work environment.

Here at Interior Fusion, we are committed to helping businesses create environments that go beyond a standard office. We will work with you to create a workplace that not only reflects your company’s culture but leads to your employees thinking of the “next big idea.”

If you are ready to start designing an office space that is built for innovation and creativity, contact the team at Interior Fusion today!