Have You Been Providing Your Creative Team With The Wrong Environment? Here’s How To Do It The Right Way!

What comes to your mind when you think of a perfect environment for your creative office? Is it an open and colourful office where people collaborate and work together while chatting, playing, and smiling? Or is it an agile environment with frequent meetings and collaborations? Your understanding of the ideal workspace for your creative team may be different from what it actually is because creative minds don’t flourish in a highly collaborative environment. It’s no wonder why the ideal creative settings portrayed in media and popular culture don’t quite picture what it should be like in real life. 

Leave them alone for creativity to bloom: but it doesn’t mean to abandon them — just create an ideal environment where they can work the way they want. 

Different studies suggest that creative individuals require a different office environment than what we generally assume. As an example, the open plan layout  in some cases is reported to have negatively impacted employee’s productivity and happiness rather than  positively contributing. So how can you tell what kind of office environment is best for your creative team? Well, let’s just listen to science.  

This article discusses the science behind creative people’s requirements and how we can achieve them in our workspaces to provide an excellent environment for creativity to blossom. 

Creative people are the ones who come up with new ideas. Therefore, they like to work alone in a focused environment and follow a planned schedule. According to a recent survey, more than 65% of creatives say they need a quiet environment to perform at best. 

Let’s discuss what makes a perfect environment for creativity, starting with the conditions that best suit creative people according to science. 

Colour

Do you think white walls are the best options for your office because they look clean? You may be wrong! White walls may help your office space look crisp, but they don’t do the best for your creative team. In fact, white colour hinders creativity as studies suggest.  

Throughout history, there have been numerous reports and articles that explain how colours influence human behaviour. Therefore, it might not be surprising to learn that colour affects our mood and productivity. 

So what are the colours that inspire creativity? Science suggests blue and green.

According to numerous findings, since blue associates with freedom, openness and peacefulness, it encourages creativity, and green is the colour known to facilitate creative performance. Both colours have been identified as the best colours that inspire creativity. 

Does this mean you should cover your entire workspace in blues and greens? Definitely not.

You can be creative when it’s about providing your creative office space with the right colours. To achieve an ideal environment, think beyond the walls and furniture and the colours you can apply to them. Try adding natural elements, such as plants, wooden texture, and aquariums to get the flawless look that inspires your creative team. And most importantly: avoid plain walls.         

Sound

Because most modern offices are designed in an open-plan layout, the office noise has been one of the major issues among creative employees. An office environment may look lively when there’s the noise of people working together, but it’s not where creative people want to work. Furthermore, not giving attention to the office noise can cost you if your office is more about executing creative tasks.    

Creative people prefer a quiet environment, but that doesn’t mean they do their best in a silent surrounding. A study from Oxford University suggests creativity flourishes better in environments that have ambient noise. Therefore, you don’t need to completely isolate your creative team from other departments, just provide them with a place that isn’t too noisy.   

Controlling noise in your office space can be a tricky task if you haven’t already planned it correctly during the design phase. There are, however, different ways you can achieve it if you consider your spacing. Just make sure your creative team doesn’t have to deal with complete silence, or on the other extreme, overly loud and disruptive noise sources. 

Light

There is a common perception among us about lighting the office: we think everything will be fine as long as the office is well lit. Therefore, we don’t dive deep into innovative lighting possibilities, often making it an overlooked topic. There’s more to the light than just making things visible, especially when you want to create an environment that helps boost creativity. According to a recent finding, there are various ways light can help to encourage creativity. For instance, dimmer and warmer lights encourage artistic thinking. 

Conversely, natural lighting is crucial for productivity, health, and overall wellbeing. Therefore, it’s best if you allow plenty of natural light into your office space. Balancing electrical and natural lighting perfectly shouldn’t be a big deal if your office has large or numerous windows. Also, think about smart ways of placing lights and lamps around your office space to balance the contrast and tone.     

Interia Solution

Finding the perfect people for creative industries can involve a lot of investment, and retaining them is crucial. On top of that, you need an ideal workspace to bring the best out of your creative team and keep them satisfied. Therefore, it’s crucial that you create the right environment your team will love. 

From our finding, creativity flourishes in 

• Private workspaces 
• Ambient noise 
• colourful surrounding
• Balanced lighting

For the best results, create private workstations for each of your creative team members, use the right colour combination, and lit your office environment with the right balance of lights. Additionally, introduce biophilia and other ways to keep your office noise to a level. If your creative team makes most of your office workforce, there will be minimal noise issues. However, if you have many departments dealing with various tasks, your creative department’s workstation placement will be crucial. 

Expert Advice & Impeccable Fit-out Solutions In Australia

Have you ever imagined how beneficial it is to provide your team with the right working environment? 
With extra efforts and thoughts behind your office design and elements that influence employee productivity, an ideal office environment is achievable. So why not consult with the most trusted experts?      

For over three decades, Interia has been helping offices create practical office environments all over Australia. We are one of the most trusted office furniture fit-out companies with the best customer satisfaction rating. If you aren’t aware of the link between productivity and office environment, let us help you. 
Contact Interia today.