It is important when your office design can convey the right impression of what your company stands for. Nowadays many companies prefer colourful, vibrant interior design for workplaces, but it’s essential to consider the impact that different colours can have.

In this post, we’ll explain the psychology of colour in the workplace, what colours are perceived to be best used and where and what you should consider when choosing the colours.

Understanding the psychology of colour in the workplace

The most significant point is that your office colours should set the right mood.  Depending on the office design style you choose for the office, colour pallets could be varied in hue, saturation and contrast. Here some simple rules that help you to find the colour pallet which will fit your office design style.

1. Find Contrast

You should make sure that your office visitors will see the difference in colours. In some cases, low contrast would work great for your office design, when the dissemblance between the chosen colours will not be obvious at first but the subtle differences would be emphasised by dimension and depth.

2. Importance of colour placement

The order and right place of the colours convey and what should be considered a feature and an accent. This is vital in developing an effective office interior design.

3. Use company`s brand colour palette

The colour palette and hues chosen for any work space has the big influence on employees` productivity, wellbeing and general mood.

The brand colours have the powerful ability to connect people and the associated brand values. Many companies tend to create workplaces that not only reflect their brand but also their values. Colour does have a big role to play in this.

One of the key areas to consider is the reception space where visitors arrive and what messages you would like to convey to them. The colours used must to ensure that the brand is instantly recognisable and sends out a positive emotional response.

You can add pops of your company colour by matching fabric colours to your logo, from rich leathers to high wool count. Also, you can choose a minimalist approach such as upholstering operator chairs or desktop screens.

4. How colour can impact on the workplace

A recent University of Texas study reviled that in overly grey, beige and/or white offices made staff feeling sad and depressed, especially women, while men encountered negative emotions when worked in overly purple and orange offices. But there are also many variables such as individuals reacting differently to some visual stimuli. The key is finding the perfect balance and creating a working space that is comfortable and where employees can work productively and enjoy working environment.

You should be careful picking colours for your work place or home office. Below you can find a viewpoint on popular colours used in the workplace. Try to experiment with new colours – a space can always be easily, quickly, and affordably repainted.

Blue is a commonly used colour in office design as it can prove to have a positive impact on productivity. This colour is considered as calming and stimulates feelings of trust. According statistic, you can increase communication and efficiency using blue colour for your office interior. For example, painting your conference room blue to enhance brainstorming sessions

Yellow is a warm, energetic colour which viewed as an optimistic and can help to increased levels of creativity. But this colour not only grabs attention but can cause frustration and anger. That is why you should pick your shade and placement carefully. For instance, you can use yellow for decorating hallway where you want to place photos and artwork or make a strong statement.

Red could be an interesting choice to increase efficiency, because it`s a stimulating and powerful colour. You can use it in spaces where you want the staff to focus and feel motivated. But remember that red would not be appropriate in vast spaces.

Green is the colour of innovation and in the same time can have a calming impact and reduce fatigue. If you paint offices and shared desk spaces green, you can increase entrepreneurship and ingenuity.

White can make certain spaces look larger and can be used to create impression of a clean, fresh start. Try not to use this colour widely in your work space a lot, because statistically proven that dominantly white office interior diminishes productivity, creativity and accuracy levels.

Kova Interiors specialise in office design ranging from space planning and interior design to office fit out to the supply and installation of office furniture.

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