Company Design: How to Style Your Office to Impress

Your interest in this topic shows you care about your corporate image. You know that office design impacts how your business is perceived. Taking steps to polish your workplace is fun! Here are five ways to make your office shine.

1. Extend a Warm Welcome to Visitors

When a client arrives at your building, the grounds influence their opinion of your business. Professional landscaping casts your firm in a positive light. At the entrance, greet clients with attractive signage. Keep your property maintained and well-lit at night.

Lobby Board

The Balance suggests installing a lobby board. By posting a message for scheduled clients, you show forethought regarding their arrival.

A welcome board can be high-tech or simple. You can opt for digital signage or a metallic stand with letters that you apply manually. A digital screen has the advantage of being dynamic. For this type of lobby board, you need a TV monitor, media player, and display software.

Refreshments

In your reception area, set up a self-serve refreshment station. Invest in a quality appliance that brews coffee, tea, lattes, and hot chocolate. Also, provide refrigerated bottled water and tea. For snacks, you might offer packaged pretzels, cereal bars, granola bars, nuts, and trail mix.

Flowers

If your budget allows, schedule weekly delivery of a floral arrangement to display in your reception area. Ask the florist to use blooms with longevity, so they remain vibrant and fresh.

Ambiance

Envision yourself as a client, entering the office for the first time. Set the air temperature to what will generally be most comfortable. If you want to play music, choose instrumental types with broad appeal. Make sure rooms have a pleasant fragrance rather than a stale, musty, or otherwise offensive smell.

2. Display Evidence of Your Company’s Success

Throughout your office, hang pictures of completed projects. If your company has won awards and citations, display them on your walls.

Create a three-ring business binder, documenting your firm’s successes. You can include positive press releases, newspaper articles, company newsletters, and client testimonials. Also, include promotional material with high-quality photos and your company’s mission statement. Place the binder in your reception area, where waiting clients can look through it.

3. Invest in High-Quality Office Furnishings

If your business is formal, use traditional wood furniture in simple, clean lines. For a more casual line of work, choose soft fabrics and curvy features. With entertainment and creative fields, you can be elaborate. For any industry, glass walls are stylish, showing your firm is contemporary.

Color

One option is to have your decor echo the colors of your company’s brand. For example, if your business cards and website incorporate green, consider using various shades of it in your furnishings.

Are you acquainted with chromology? This is the science of how colors affect our physiology, behavior, and moods. If you want to foster calm, select furniture in light blue and green. To promote decision-making, use touches of teal.

Since yellow encourages socialization, use it as an accent in your lobby, cafeteria, and conference rooms. Brown conveys sophistication while white implies organization. Lavender sparks creativity. To generate enthusiasm, dabble in orange and red.

Floor Plan

The size and shape of your building affect your options as well. Select furniture that’s proportionate to your available office space, giving people breathing room. The four basic office layouts are:

• Open: In an open floor plan, with workstations in plain sight, desks and tables are arranged in horizontal lines. Furniture is conservative.
• Cellular: This design consists of cubicles that can be dressed up with fabric and color. However, this smaller layout is half the size of an open floor plan.
• Traditional: Workstations of support staff are located outside private offices. Furniture reflects the corporate hierarchy.
• Hybrid: This modern layout incorporates features of the open, cellular, and traditional settings. The basic components are private offices and cubicles. Common areas, where employees collaborate, house large tables and chairs. Smaller, sound-proof rooms promote focused work, with fewer pieces of furniture.

Choose the layout that best fits your functional needs to have a final product with a great balance of form and function.

Synergy and Balance

Strive for harmony between all elements of your decor. Match furniture with the color of walls, artwork, and floors. Blending your pieces creates an organized image.

Choose one focal point per room, with other objects playing a secondary role. A focal point gives a place for the eyes to rest. For hanging artwork, follow gallery guidelines, with the center of each piece positioned 57 inches from the floor.

Are you sensing your business needs a major facelift? If so, different furniture dealers can help you identify ideal pieces for your business, often at discounted prices. They typically can also provide delivery and installation.

4. Keep Current with Equipment and Technology

Having antiquated machines can deflate confidence in your company. Being outdated prompts suspicion that your policies and procedures are likewise inferior.

Have workstations outfitted with modern computers. Other devices to keep up-to-par are photocopiers, fax machines, and communication systems. In restrooms, automatic faucets and hand dryers show your company is progressive.

5. Maintain Cleanliness and Organization.

Run a tight ship. Start with clean sidewalks leading up to your entrance. Make sure inside carpets are stain-free, and bare floors are polished.

Restrooms need close attention. Ensure that soap and towel dispensers are filled, and there’s extra toilet paper. Have your maintenance staff keep up with trash, so garbage bins aren’t stuffed and overflowing. Housekeeping should also dust surfaces. If your company is large, hire a professional cleaning service.

Ask employees to keep desks presentable. Give staff enough cabinets and storage units, so workstations aren’t cluttered with files, paper, and office supplies. Well-maintained plants are an attractive touch.

Your Polished Image

Now, envision the upgrades you’ve made! Visitors feel welcomed by manicured grounds, a lobby board, flowers, refreshments, and a comfortable ambiance.

Upon seeing your company’s awards and documented success, clients know they’re in good hands. Your furnishings suit your industry and floor plan, in pleasing colors and styles. All the elements sync beautifully.

Your equipment and technology are modern, and the workplace is clean and organized. Your business hums, like a well-oiled machine. Now, picture your clients smiling!

Author: Kara Masterson is a freelance writer from Utah. She enjoys Tennis and spending time with her family. Kara recommends looking into places like Evenson Best for more info on finding the best office furniture for you and your business.