The Power of Colour

The world of office design is changing and business revolutionaries like yourself are seeking help from us to deliver office branding packages that fully utilise colour psychology. 

Colour is a powerful and emotive tool that can be harnessed to impact mood, motivation, productivity and staff retention. A study conducted by colour psychologists found that 80% of office workers said that colour positively impacts their emotions and performance, but 67% said that their current office design didn’t take this in to account.

Colour studies have also found that excessively white workspaces tended to create feelings of boredom, which lead to stifled creativity and output as well as increased sickness due to headaches. This being said neutral tones are a fundamental element for creating a canvas to host vibrant and stimulating colours, but which colour?

Blue

• A blue environment produces twice as many brainstorming results when compared to a red environment.
• Blue is indicative of the sky or ocean which promotes feelings of openness and tranquillity which in turn projects feelings of safety to explore new ideas.
• Blue is the most common favourite and is a good choice to please the majority.
• Blue has greatest impact on increasing performance.
• Blue is a soothing colour as the eye has less work to do to focus.

Green

• When compared to a white room, people in a green room scored 20% higher on creativity tests.
• Green is indicative of nature, which promotes feelings of growth, which in turn promotes feelings of personal development and the mastering of tasks.
• Green is a soothing colour as, like blue, the eye focuses on it easily.

Red

• Red increases feelings of energy and speed.
• However red can impact analytical thinking.
• Red projects feelings of passion, excitement, youth, pioneering, power, confidence and ambition.

Orange

• Orange increases the perceptions of a warmer working environment.
• Promotes social interaction
• Orange promotes feeling of value, freedom, impulse and optimism.

Pink

• Pinks have been proven to give a calming effect
• However, too much pink can drain staff of energy and motivation.
• Pink promotes feelings of respect, warmth, care, sensitivity and understanding and assertiveness.

Yellow

• Yellow promotes good communication and social activity.
• Studies have shown that staff socialise easier in yellow rooms.
• However yellow is the least easily accepted colour for office walls.

Unfortunately there is no hard and fast rules on the effect colours have, as personal experience and preference differ between individuals. However, on the whole the use of colour within an office fit out project is essential to positively impact you and your team’s motivation and mood. Colour should always be considered as part of the complete design and never rushed into without consideration and thought. On top of this it is fundamental to balance and off set blocks of colour with negative of blank space to cause the colour to give a finish that works as a holistic design. 

For examples and inspiration on creating your own branded office using environmental graphics, check out our case studies.

Sources:

Sciencedaily.com

Prevention.com

Huffingtonpost.com

Telegraph.co.uk

Image Sources:

Blue walls - https://www.behance.net/gallery/12725651/Kuehne-Nagel

Green Walls and windows: https://www.behance.net/gallery/7963353/NAVTEQ-Chicago-IL

Red Walls - https://www.pinterest.com/edcurrer/office-wall-graphics/

Yellow Walls - https://www.pinterest.com/edcurrer/office-wall-graphics/

Orange Walls - https://www.pinterest.com/edcurrer/office-wall-graphics/

Colour Chart infographic – https://www.ideopsychology.com