It might be time for a makeover if your office only has bland neutral colors, like concrete, cubicles, and warships… Color in the workplace can affect the mood and productivity of your employees! By choosing the right combination of colors to paint and design with, each person can benefit and boost their individual productivity and efficiency levels. Read on to find out what colors are best for your office.
Color Psychology
There are four psychological primary colors; red, blue, yellow, and green. Red affects the body, blue affects the mind, yellow affects self-confidence, and green affects the balance between the mind, body, and emotions.
Red boosts your heart rate, increases brain wave activity, and stimulates appetite. It’s ideal for spaces where people work at night and places with a lot of physical activity – say a common area or breakroom. The color red also evokes emotion and passion. If there’s something in the office that you want to attract attention to, paint it red! This is also a great accent for conference rooms or areas where negotiation occurs.
Blue is universally an excellent color for productivity. It’s a stable and calming color that helps employees focus on the task at hand. It promotes a sense of trust, communication, and efficiency and helps lower your heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration. This color is perfect for businesses who work in an agile, collaborative environment.
Yellow induces a sense of optimism and stimulates and energizes; however, too much can lead to anxiety and an increase in temper. Yellow is perfect as an accent color in offices where designers and creatives work since it encourages focus and direction in employees.
Green is a good color for people who work long hours since it does not cause eye fatigue and helps you remain calm and efficient at the same time. This color also boosts creativity, inspires innovation, promotes harmony and balance, enhances creative performance, and reduces anxiety and eyestrain. Put this color in a space where computers are used, and innovation and brainstorming occur.
How to Use These Colors
You can mix and match each of these colors to create more than one mood, especially since having too much of one color can tend to leave people feeling off balance. Rather than having a rainbow of colors, pick one or two that fit with your office and line of work and stick to only a couple of accents.
If you’re painting your walls, paint texture matters too! The sheen of glossy paints elicits higher energy while matte finishes give off more subdued vibes. If you have a home office as well, you can differentiate your work environment from your home environment by painting your office space a different color than the rest of your home.
Painting and decorating offices in certain colors have been proven to improve productivity. However, one color might not do the trick. The color that improves productivity depends on the type of work being done and the desired result of the space. If you have any questions on workplace design or using color in the workplace, call us at (470) 545-4908!