Creative Office Design
You know how important creativity is to your company’s success. You’re also aware that creativity at your company isn’t as good as it could (or needs to) be. So you’re puzzling “How can I improve creativity at my company?” That’s what’s brought you to this article.
You’re not alone. Every week, we speak to dozens of companies about improving their workspaces. Poor staff creativity is a common concern. A study by IBM showed CEOs consider creativity to be the most important factor for future success.
Creativity has been declining for decades. It’s common to blame the lack of creativity on increasing workloads and short-termism. However, the working environment has also played a role. 20% of office workers cite uninspiring environments as a major block on creativity in the workplace.
So how can you ensure none of your people are limited creatively by your workspace? In this article, you’ll learn the top 5 ways you can change your office design to boost the creativity of your people. By the end, you’ll how you can improve creativity in your office, and where to get started.
Agile Working
For your people to be as effective and creative as possible, they need a variety of spaces in your office to facilitate the different tasks they work on. Creativity is as much about individual work and relaxation as it is about teamwork.
Creating a variety of environments will not only support your people to be more productive. It will also encourage them to move around throughout the day. This will increase informal contact between different colleagues, creating opportunities for “watercooler moments”.
How to Implement Agile Working
To encourage your people to be more agile, it's important that you have distinct areas for the different types of work. For large offices, you may need 2 or more of each type of area. You should also include different types of environments within each area. Different staff will have different working styles, even within each area. Learn more by reading Breaking Down Agile Working: Definitions, Principles, and Practices.
Collaboration Spaces
One of the most important areas in your office is your collaboration space. When people with different skills, perspectives, and experiences come together, they are more creative and effective than solo workers. Collaboration is about more than sharing information in meetings. It’s about working together effectively
Collaboration often sparks the best creative solutions. Unfortunately, many offices have little space designed to encourage collaboration. They may have meeting rooms and a breakout area, but these are for formal communication rather than collaboration.
How to Maximise Collaboration in Your Office
To improve collaboration and creativity at your company, you need to create a dedicated collaboration space. It’s important that your collaboration area has variety within it, as teamwork comes in many shapes and sizes. It often happens informally in small teams, so your collaboration spaces should also reflect this. Read 5 Ways to Improve Collaboration with Office Design to learn more.
Breakout Spaces
In outdated offices, breakout spaces are often neglected – small areas designed primarily for eating. However, relocation spaces have a crucial role to play in the modern office, and creativity is a big part of this.
It may seem counterintuitive, but relaxation is a crucial part of creativity and overall performance. By taking time to recharge and refocus, staff can be at their most creative when it matters. Several studies have shown that when we are doing something with a low intelligence requirement, creativity is boosted by up to 60%.
How to Improve Relaxation in Your Office
Again, providing a dedicated and suitable space is essential. If you have a dedicated space, you can ensure that it is designed exclusively for relaxation. A typical breakout space will include a kitchen or bar, an eating area, and soft seating. Ideally, your breakout space will have a different look and feel to the rest of your office. This will create a clear distinction between work and relaxation areas, making it easier to work in other areas of your office.
Customisability
All your people are different and work in different ways, so have different requirements from their workspace. This means that it’s impossible to create a workspace that maximises the performance of all your people – unless you design it to be adapted by your people.
Customisability can take your workspace to the next level, boosting the engagement, creativity and performance of your people. This flexibility also enables you to adapt your entire space as your needs change in the years to come.
How to Improve Customisability in Your Office
To boost customisability in your office, you need to include modularity and portability wherever possible. As the part of the office your people interact with the most, customisable furniture is essential. There are many modular furniture systems available, from movable bleacher seating to reconfigurable pods and booths. Movable walls and portable screens can also be used to provide more privacy or focus if required. To learn more, read Top 4 Ways to Enable Customisation in Your Office Design.
Biophilia
There is more to maximising the creativity of your people than optimising your office layout. You also need to make your workspace an enjoyable, inspiring place to be. For this, biophilia is crucial. Biophilic design maximises the use of natural materials and features throughout the office.
This includes features and finishes such as plants, living walls, and natural wood flooring. It also includes design aspects such as fresh air and daylight-balanced lighting. Studies have shown that workspaces using natural materials increase creativity by 13% and productivity by 6%.
How to Improve Biophilia in Your Office
Biophilia is much easier to incorporate into your existing office design than some other design elements we have discussed today. Desk and floor-mounted plants can easily be added to your office at a low cost. You could also refurbish parts of your office to include more natural materials.
Making Your People More Creative
Improving creativity at your company is essential. Having read this article, you now understand why and how your workspace impacts the creativity of your people. Hopefully, you also have some ideas to improve creativity in your office.
While these aspects are true in their own right, they will have a much bigger impact if combined. An active workspace design with clearly defined collaboration and relaxation areas will encourage your people to move around, meeting each other more. Customisability builds on this by allowing them to adapt their workspace to suit their needs even better. Biophilic design will also boost the wellbeing of your staff, which is crucial for maximum productivity.
Take the next step in office design by getting your Definitive Office Design Guide. There, you’ll get answers to all your questions about office design and why it matters before you speak to an office designer. Get your Office Design Guide Here.
To learn more about other ways that office design can help your company, read 11 ways office design can boost company performance. We’ll go through the 1 most common company-level benefits of redesigning your office, and how you can maximise their impact on your next project.
