An office space should not be planned with just aesthetics in mind, nor should the business owner adopt the latest design trends just for the sake of it. An office may look modern and in line with the current trends, but appearance is not everything.
The key to an effective workplace, one that is productive and happy is to design a room that functions well. It needs to work well for the people who use it, and this is the thinking behind a purposeful design.
To design a space that meets the needs of your employees, you need to put in the time to understand what makes your business tick. Understanding the little things of everyday work is very important for the sensitive and serious task of designing your new office.
The best way to determine this is to consult with your employees. They can tell you how they work now, and how they prefer to work, and the spaces and tools they need. Your team can highlight pain points and challenges, as well as identifying things that will increase their productivity and speed of daily tasks.
With the information you get from your employees, you can begin to design an office space where each element has a specific purpose. Nothing should be there just for show; it should all meet specific needs.
Main considerations during the design process
Purposeful design in the office can be difficult to get right, simply because there are so many factors to consider. You are trying to meet very different needs, usually in an open plan space. Before starting the design process, assume the following:
Zoning and definition of work space is very important. The design you will need will likely incorporate different types of workspace, which are must be quite separate from each other to be effective (for example, providing a quiet space in a busy office) but that work together to create a cohesive working environment. The use and placement of office furniture will play a big role in this, as will lighting and other zoning techniques. For Gloucester Office Furniture, visit a site like https://www.severnfurnishing.co.uk
Your staff may need some time to adjust. It will be a new way of working, so give your employees some time to get used to it. You should try to incorporate the employees in the consultation and design, to ease the fear of change and to get them excited about their new workspace.
Keep your focus on user needs. Every time you make a decision about the layout or office furniture, you have to ask yourself whether it meets both functional or practical needs. Is it going to help your workers to become more efficient, or boost the morale of the team? Otherwise, it may not be included. It’s easy to get distracted by the aesthetics (and that’s not to say that the design of the office of destination cannot also be attractive and fashionable) – but it is above all function that should govern.