Those of you who follow me on Instagram will have noticed that recently I’ve had a couple of commercial interior design projects in Darwin on the go as well as my beloved residential projects. Commercial interior design and residential interior design do have quite a few similarities but there are other aspects which need careful consideration and I always enjoy the challenges that a change in direction bring.
In commercial interior design fixture and furniture placement is important of course for work safety, aesthetics, and for high-traffic usage. But what is also important is colour, materials, and prints … these are the psychological factors we need think about when designing a work environment that is productive and put your customers and clients at ease.
Good interior design is extremely well-considered and has many principles and elements that must be followed to ensure that we don’t end up with a mish-mash that people can’t wait to escape from! A career in interior design is certainly not for the faint-hearted!
There are seven elements of commercial interior design that form the basis of every project:
- Space
- Lines
- Form
- Light
- Texture
- Pattern
- Colour
Space, lines, form, and light are the more technical elements of design – both commercial and residential. Texture, pattern and colour fall more toward the creative side of the design book.
I won’t bang on about the psychology of colour too much because I do feel that is a rather overdone topic and one that you’re probably not looking for today. What I’m sure is important to you (as it is to me!) is how creating a vibrant and energetic interior shows your customers and clients that your business is innovative and dynamic, and it inspires you and your staff to be more productive and creative too!
When designing inspiring workplaces, I like to use different materials and textures bring Feng Shui and Biophilic design principles along with more traditional interior design principles such as colour. I believe it’s important for people to feel welcome and nurtured by their surroundings. Your customers and clients will look forward to returning again and again (and of course they’re more likely to tell their friends about you as well) because being in your office makes them feel good! Working in a nurturing and inspiring setting increases productivity levels and creativity too!
Research has found that incorporating living greenery inside buildings building increases occupants’ feelings of well-being by 40%. In addition to increasing the feel-good factor, including biophilic elements to offices can increase productivity and reduce absenteeism. What great bonuses to any business simply through clever interior design!
A few words about colour, because in the work environment there are important colours to include, and some to use more sparingly:
- Green creates a sense of calm, and promotes harmony and balance. It’s excellent for areas where people work long hours because it reduces anxiety and eye strain.
- Blue calms and soothes and promotes trust and communication which makes it an excellent choice for meeting rooms and in employee work areas where it boosts productivity. It’s also a ‘healthy’ colour choice as it is known to lower heart rate and blood pressure.
- Yellow is excellent for creative areas because it is an energy booster, promotes creativity and is the colour of optimism. Use it carefully though because too much yellow can increase anxiety levels and even appetites!
- Red is the perfect accent colour to create a sense of warmth. It’s an ‘active’ colour and increases brain wave activity and physical activity as it boosts both heart rate and blood flow – for this reason it should also be used sparingly as it can also rouse feelings of anger or hostility.
- Orange is the perfect ‘pick-me-up’ inspiring energy and endurance. It is great for accent walls or in décor pieces, but like yellow it can also stimulate the appetite so using it sparingly is important so you can keep your focus instead of being distracted by daydreams of food!
- All white walls are known to make people error prone, but it can also foster creativity and give the illusion of spaciousness. White is best used with other vibrant colours in a work space to create balance.
- Grey was for many years seen as ‘the’ colour for workplaces because it is utilitarian and was believed to keep people focussed on the work at hand. Nowadays we know better! Grey is an excellent colour to use to anchor light or brightly coloured spaces.
Are you ready to make a difference to your commercial work spaces, or maybe to your home-based office? I’m ready to help you make that difference! All of my design packages can be found right here and if you’ve got any questions at all please send me a message!
You’ll find a complete list of my packages HERE to find out more about how JM Interiors can help you create a home that you’ll love returning to each day – I can work with you on-site or remotely; distance is no barrier! If you’re still unsure about what you need from an interior designer … jump in and book a DISCOVERY CALL and we can work out which is the best way to get your tropical-inspired interior design project started.
And of course don’t forget to do our FUN QUIZ to work out your personal tropical interior design style!
