Balanced office spaces can feel good while remaining functional for clients, visitors, and employees to use. Creating a balance between the right furniture, colors, lighting, and decor requires a skillful understanding of what makes people feel comfortable, productive, and inspired in their workspaces. Even simple changes can rebalance a workplace environment from a stagnating corporate space into an environment that encourages creativity and passion.
We created this guide for office owners, designers, and managers seeking this balance between functionality and style. Smart office layouts incorporate furniture, color, a custom office sign, and more to improve the space. However, the most important factor is personalization. No single solution can fix every office, but these tips can be utilized in any office space to create a better balance for modern clients, visitors, and employees to enjoy.
1. Start With a Strong Vision
Office designers, managers, and owners often make the mistake of skipping to colors, texture, and furniture before cementing their vision for the office. Instead, they should ask questions about their goals. What is the intended mood? What are the team’s daily needs? Will the space be used for client meetings, conferences, feedback sessions, or employee workspaces?
While making stylish decisions can help create more beautiful spaces, top-performing offices balance beauty with functionality. They do so by considering the intended purpose of each room before picking its style.
Consider the difference in tone between different layouts. For example, open plans may encourage collaboration while more segmented spaces may encourage individual focus. The layers of design elements, combined with the chosen layout, should complement the intended workflow.
2. Choose Functional and Ergonomic Furniture
Many office layouts have minimalistic furniture that looks better in corporate magazines than in day-to-day use by hard-working employees. Stylish furniture can contribute to a productive mood, but the best furniture strikes a better balance with functionality by focusing on ergonomics as well as style. Adjustability, lumbar support, weight limits, and headrests are all elements to consider when buying furniture for daily office use.
3. Strategically Incorporate Branded Decor
Branded elements can add style to an office layout without impacting its functionality. Branded decor can give office managers the ability to customize the mood of their offices, communicate brand values, and turn their logos and mottos into new focal points for their employees to enjoy.
For example, a custom office sign customized with the company’s mission statement can add a unique brand identity to the space without changing the layout. Brushed metal and other premium materials, colors, and textures can communicate professionalism and progressive thinking in a reception area or conference room.
Alternatively, an office sign can be customized to be more rustic and inviting, depending on the brand’s intended message. Custom decor solutions with high standards of craftsmanship are like blank canvases for office managers to infuse their layouts with the distinct style of their brand.
4. Leave Space for Relaxing
Modern office managers can make the mistake of allocating every inch of their layout for workspace. Yet, relaxation space can be just as important in crafting a productive and engaging environment as a workspace.
For example, leaving room for employees to sit and relax, away from their insulated workspace, can promote collaboration, engagement, and positivity. This space is ideal for branded wall artwork since employees can sit and enjoy it. This allows managers to use artwork to encourage the intended mood, communicate a brand’s value, and create the most stylish and interesting space they can.
5. Utilize Feedback to Make Improvements
A balanced office layout successfully combines style and functionality while leaving room to be continuously improved based on employees’ needs. Teams can be consulted on how the layout could impact their productivity and comfort. They may even have preferences that could guide the design process toward more productive results!
Additionally, custom art designers can help in this process by meeting the needs of the office to create art that embodies the brand’s vision. An outside perspective can be invaluable in taking a brand’s unique vision for functionality and creating custom pieces that support its ideal workflow.
Professional Office Art Designers Balance Style and Functionality in Modern Workspaces
Style and functionality do not have to be a compromise in modern office layouts. By starting with a strong vision and making smart choices for the furniture, color, and decor, office managers can design a new layout that reflects their brand’s culture while maximizing productivity.
Our team of experienced artists at ShieldCo Art is dedicated to customizing decor to create more stylish office spaces without sacrificing functionality. We’ll create high-quality, artistic custom office sign that communicates your brand’s creative vision while matching the needs of each space. Contact our team today to learn how custom metal office signs can balance functionality and style in your modern office space.