HIDDEN BENEFITS
OF INTERIOR DESIGN
A look into some of the hidden benefits
your company can gain by hiring an interior design firm.
CUTTING INEFFICIENCIES
TO SAVE MONEY
Hiring a commercial interior design firm to help design your space produces more than just visible results. Designers can identify inefficiencies within workflows, and help to evaluate and restructure the way the office is laid out to produce a more functional workplace.
Before a designer starts space planning it is important to understand how the business operates. Learning about departmental responsibilities and understanding relational adjacencies is pertinent when laying out a space. When departments that work together often are spacially disjointed it can cause gaps in communication and disturb workflow processes. Providing the most efficient and effective space plan will not only organize your office but also offer a space that maximizes productivity.
Having the right amount of square footage also yields benefits. An office with vacant or unused spaces is throwing money out the window. A designer can identify space requirements by setting standards based on departmental needs. For example, a call center probably does not need 6x8 cubes for their dispatchers. Planning with adequate square footage for spaces throughout the office such as cubicles and private offices will not only make the best use of your space but also give the most bang for your buck. Office standards are widely used by businesses because they produce measurable cost-saving results.
CREATING A WELCOMING SPACE
TO BOOST PRODUCTIVITY
There is a psychological aspect when it comes to interior design: color creates emotion, sound creates mood, safety creates comfort, and so on. It is important to consider how someone will feel in a space when deciding how to design it.
Companies want their office to be an enjoyable place for their staff to work. Employees tend to be more productive when they work in an environment that accommodates their needs. Employees also tend to be more productive in spaces that are aesthetically pleasing. Happy employees are a reflection of how a company treats them, and employees that are happy stay at their job.
Through understanding how your company operates, and who your team is as a whole, a designer can create a space that your employees want to be at. Providing them with amenities that sustain them throughout the day removes the need to leave the office. For example, including a cafe market within the office is a great way to offer your employees food and drink without having to go out for lunch or snacks.
Another great way to boost productivity within the office is to create an outdoor space where employees can take a break and get some fresh air. Numerous scientific studies have proven the importance of outdoor working hours on mental well-being and productivity. Research by Cornell University Professor Dr. Alan Hedge backed up the connection between natural light and employees’ well-being. His research found that natural light and outdoor hours resulted in a 51% drop in eyestrain and a 63% drop in the incidence of headaches.
Incorporating biophilic design on the interior also improves employee health and well-being. Research by the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that by adding just one plant per square meter within an office, productivity rates among employees rose by more than 15%. Simply by having an outdoor view with plenty of natural light, one study in Sacramento found that workers in their call center could work up to 12% faster. By investing in outdoor office spaces, employers can directly improve their productivity and, in turn, their profitability. Buzonuk
SAVE TIME
AND MONEY
An interior design firm can save a company time and money when redesign, reorganization, and renovations are undertaken. Because every company is unique in the way it operates, interior design firms make it their business to understand their client’s wants and needs, improving or developing solutions to accommodate those expectations and eliminate inefficiencies along the way. These changes can lead to time and money savings well into the future. Knowing that change is hard and often met with resistance, a commercial interior design firm breaks a project down rationally so the improvement process is effortless.
To start the process of evaluating your office and how to reap these benefits, reach out to us at design@studio-smc.com or fill out our contact form here. We’d love the opportunity to work together!