Live Your Work Life in Colour

Rap Interiors are pleased to showcase style bloggers and here we hear from Jennifer on her thoughts on how colour can affect business performance in the workplace.

How Does Colour in a Workplace Affect Productivity?

Different colours elicit certain emotional responses in people. In this blog post, we explore how to make your office a more productive and comfortable space.

Colour psychology is an important thing to consider when undertaking an office refurbishment because colours impact employees in different ways.

Manipulating colours and design of your office can work to your benefit by making employees more productive. In fact, the colour of a space is so important, specifically an office setting, companies like Goldleaf Designs, a custom homebuilder in Cherryhill, make sure to study and understand the psychology of colour in order to suggest the appropriate hues for a space.

It’s important to understand how colour can be manipulated in the workplace. In order to get the best quality work from your employees, make sure to strive for the following emotions:

Create Calmness

An employee will produce better quality work when they feel a sense of ease and comfort in the workplace. An easy way to create feelings of calmness in your office is to use colours such as light blue, light green, and lavender.

For example, light blue paint that is paired with a white accent creates a feeling of openness and tranquillity in a room. This will keep employees calm and will alleviate everyday work stressors, making employees more willing to work. Equally, adding lush, green plants can also add to the feelings of calmness in an office.

These colours can be found on the walls or around the office with furniture, wall hangings, floor coverings, and art. Creating certain emotions in a room doesn’t have to be solely dependent on wall colours.

See how the colours used in Pick Everard’s office we designed has a striking impression on clients but a calming effect for employees to work within.

Increase Energy

Employees will be more productive if they have more energy. In order to stimulate the minds of employees, consider introducing warm colours in the office when decorating.

Warm colours like red, orange and yellow evoke feelings of alertness so will keep employees awake and productive throughout the workday. However, it’s important to note that the use of too many warm colours can create negative emotions such as anxiety, irritability, and even anger.

Using warm colours to create more energy at work is very effective when using them for accent walls ( a single wall that is a different colour than the rest), wall hangings, and pieces of furniture. The key to creating energy with colour is by offsetting warm colours with neutral tones, like tan, white, and grey. For example, using red chairs in an otherwise white office is a positive way to increase energy using colour.

See more inspiration from the energising Holy Trinity Lamorbey primary school

Increase Motivation

It goes without saying that motivated employees will be the most efficient workers. In order to increase motivation in the workplace using colours, introduce blue, yellow, or red. Blue stimulates the mind and is likely to keep an employee on task and wanting to get a job done efficiently. Yellow, a colour associated with happiness, creates feelings of optimism and will motivate an employee to complete a task to the best of their ability. Red creates energy that goes hand in hand with keeping employees motivated to work harder.

Make sure to use yellow and red sparingly when trying to increase motivation in a room with these colours. Try to use yellow and red to increase more motivation by implementing furniture and decorations in these colours rather than painting entire offices in these colours.

Find out why the colours in Collingwood’s College sixth form IT suite were incorporated into the school design.

Induce Creativity

Yellow and orange are the colours most likely to induce creativity in the workplace. Yellow brings optimism to the office because it reminds the brain of the sun and natural light along with stimulating the brain. Orange also stimulates mental activity and inspires enthusiasm by reducing self-consciousness and creating confidence to self-express.

Another colour that has been associated with creativity is blue. In fact, blue is often found in conference rooms because it inspires creativity and, with multiple creative minds working together, employee productivity will go up.

Yellow and orange were incorporated in the soft furnishings of Sun Valley Rice to promote optimism and stimulation.

Improve Employee Wellbeing and Happiness

Yellow is the most well-known colour to improve employee wellbeing and happiness. However, any light hue of a warm colour is likely to improve happiness amongst employees. This is especially true when paired with white accents.

Improving well-being and happiness in the workplace with colour doesn’t have to just be with paint, it can also be done with furniture and decorations. If the main interior colour is a dull grey or brown, adding a warm-coloured accessory like a piece of art or plant can increase employee well-being and happiness.

Find out how the colour yellow was designed into the boardroom of the Balreed’s office design.

Redefining Your Workspace

If you have the ability to redesign or remodel your workspace to increase employee productivity, picking certain colours can help you do that. Redesigning your space doesn’t necessarily have to mean painting an entire office: it can be the simple installation of wall hangings or the presence of plants or new furniture. Every office space is different but, overall, keeping employees happy, engaged and alert to increase employee productivity.

Do you want to inject some colour into your office?

Is your office looking a bit dull and needs some life put into it?

One of our team will be happy to help, call the office on 0333 600 1234 or fill out the form below and they will be in touch shortly to discuss your new office plans!

Jennifer Bell is an American freelance writer, blogger, dog-enthusiast and avid beachgoer operating out of Southern New Jersey.