The Benefits of Colour Therapy at the Office

In our blog post on 2017 Office Interior trends we mentioned how colour would be important. There have been many studies based around whether or not different colour choices affect our behaviour and attitudes. According to colour psychology, colours have the ability to provoke both negative and positive energies and can also encourage people to work harder. Choosing the right colours for your office is crucial, an element that is often overlooked when designing spaces. Sometimes, colours that seem suitable for your new office can look stylish, however, it’s important to know how these colours can affect your employees subconsciously.

Through the ages, we have come to associate colours with certain emotions. For example, black often represents grieving, red anger and blue relaxation. Recent colour therapy studies, however, have had interested and unexpected results. Understanding how colours affect us subconsciously will not only benefit your employees’ wellbeing, but it will also help to guide you in deciding which colours are the best choice for your office refurbishment. In this blog post, we explore the most effective colours to use in your office environment and how these colours can benefit your psychology and physiology.

The best colours to use depend greatly on what type of business you are running. Using bright, reflective colours such as yellow and white, for example, would be counter-productive in a psychologist’s office. This is due to the fact that over-reflective colours cause strain to the eye, causing annoyance and overstimulation. This may come as a surprise to some as we often associate yellow with sunshine, happiness and warmth. Studies have shown, however, that babies tend to cry more in yellow bedrooms, people tend to argue more in yellow kitchens and yellow dressing rooms cause more stress to professional entertainers.

In a busy office environment, blue is a wise colour choice. This colour encourages productivity and helps to stimulate the mind. As well as that, blue helps to keep you calm and collected which will also encourage you to stay level-headed in busy environments. Red should be used in environments that require a lot of attention to detail. Studies have shown that red enhances performance when employees are allocated tasks which involve a lot of concentration, such as proof-reading or anything that requires remembering.

Using bright, bold colours for your office canteen and breakout areas is a clever way of contrasting colours that you usually wouldn’t. Orange, for example, is a warm colour that helps to wake you up, which is especially useful for those early mornings in the office! It also helps to keep your employees energetic, which is important during lunch time as often people struggle to stay motivated to work after eating lunch.

In executive office settings, the correct use of colour is crucial as it determines what type of impression or image you want to portray. Companies often stick with simple colours, such as black, white and dark walnut, as they are timeless, professional and non-distracting. Reception areas offer ample opportunities to get creative! It’s your first point of contact for potential clients and should leave them feeling like your space is unforgettable. Tips to consider when choosing the correct colours for your office include the amount of light that enters the room, how long you’ll spend in each allocated area and how much space you have to play with. Small spaces, for example, can benefit greatly from light colours, especially white. This will ensure that light is easily reflected around the room, creating the illusion that you have more space than meets the eye.

Whatever colours you decide to go for, make sure that they are true to your brand’s identity, but also that you consider how they will affect your staff psychologically and physiologically.