1. Colouring It With Purpose
Colours have a very powerful way of affecting the mindspace of workers. So while selecting office wall colours, be very thoughtful.
Natural-toned and cool colours like green and blue can help with steady focus and a state of calm that improves efficiency. In contrast, warmer colours, such as yellow and orange, can elicit feelings of freshness, optimism and creativity.
The thing to be noted with cool colours is that they can be sleep-inducing if overused. Similarly, going overboard with warm office room colours could lead to overactive minds and anxiety. To find the sweet spot, go with non-distracting, neutral colours like beige, off-white or grey. Use brighter emotion-evoking colours more sparingly. Brown, red and plain white are colours to usually steer clear of. These colours could reflect laziness, anxiety and boredom, respectively.
Your brand colours have the unbelievable ability to reflect a company’s energy and connect the employees to a brand’s core values. This phenomenon is called ‘colour impression’ – the lasting effect that the colours of your office has on your people.
Understand colors’ psychological effects to choose the right ones and leave positive impressions on your stakeholders. Ensure that the colours you pick are the best possible colours for your office walls.
2. Getting Into The Depths of Colour
Colours spark a subconscious reaction within us. Colours can effectively differentiate various zones within an office space, with each zone having a distinct function and ambience. For example, a conference room or boardroom might be painted in a more neutral colour such as beige or grey, to create a sense of professionalism and formality. Meanwhile, a break room or lounge area might be painted in a more vibrant colour such as orange or yellow, to create a sense of energy and fun. Hence, office room colours should be a well-thought out aspect of your office design.
The best colours for your office walls are the ones that can both nudge your team into a stream of productivity and also help them tap into a mode of recreation when they need it.
The most important point to keep in mind while choosing colours for office interiors is that there are no high contrasts that could possibly distract or overstimulate people. An interesting way to freeze out such detrimental possibilities is to make use of accent walls, wherein only one wall is shaded with an intensely bright or dark colour, but imparts an overall effect to the whole room.
3. Creating the Atmosphere You Need With Colours
Colours can be confusing – and that’s why there are many conflicting articles about colour psychology. A great example is how the colour yellow provides you energy and wakes you up but go too far with it and it could cause anxious thinking which disrupts analytical thinking abilities.
It helps to take into consideration the operations of your company to figure out if you need colours that encourage employees to be creative, super focused on task completion or be physically active. It’s also important to note that different colours elicit different internal reactions in people depending on their personal experiences and culture. So take your time to monitor and research what works best as your office room colours.
To promote creativity office wall colours such as orange, yellow, blue, and purple can be effective. For promoting focus, cool and neutral colours such as white, beige, and grey can help. To promote physical activity, the best colour combination for office walls are bright and bold colours like red and orange. Incorporating natural elements can also help elicit a sense of calmness and freshness in the space.
You can also be creative while building the desired ambience by bringing in colour with interesting floor coverings, paintings, fixtures, benches or even just the slightest dash of green from little plants.
4. Finding The Balance
An office can be everything you want it to be, if you figure out the master plan for its colours. Colours like a vivid red or a bright neon would usually be frowned upon for office colour design. However, if your office has a common room for socializing, such colours could actually be an advantage for people. When used only in particular sections like the kitchen, lunchroom or an employee-only area, these colours could be the reason employees get to effectively switch between focused work and relaxed conversation.
The colours of your office walls have hidden messages in them, and they are for everyone to receive. Spending time with an office colour design specialist or the team to come up with the best colours for office walls can do wonders.
If colours really speak, choose the colours that will speak to your workers with love! From creating the ideal working conditions to building an insanely good-looking space, office room colours are where it’s at.
This post was originally published on Livspace.