What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of an office? We wager that for a lot of people it’s not exactly a picturesque image. A slew of cubicles. Dim lighting. Beige and grey as far as the eye can see. The sole pieces of décor are a clock that ticks a little too loudly and an old poster of a kitten hanging onto a tree branch that has been slowly peeling off the wall for two months. The horror! The nightmares!
Fortunately, it’s not always that bad. Many companies are putting in the effort to create workspaces that are livelier these days, and we get to experience the joy of helping create them. Clients come to us when they want to create spaces that evoke positive emotions (and a little bit of wonder) in their staff, customers and even potential future employees.
But how do we help our clients achieve this?
Design Matters
Not only does a more vibrant space make a larger impression on visitors and clients alike, but it turns out that newer generations care a lot about workplace design. They want spaces for collaboration and creativity while still maintaining the ability to focus on their work in a semi-quiet environment when they need to.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to completely redesign your workspace. Instead, consider what can be done to repurpose the space you already have. A few additions or modifications can be a real game changer.
Introducing: TEXTURE
We got rid of all the plain white walls in our new facility the instant we moved in.
We used a lot of different materials to design the interior of our building. One of our favorite things? Texture. And there are so many ways that texture can be utilized to help create interesting spaces.
For example, in our own office we could have just slapped our logo onto the wall and called it a day, but since we believe that ideas should always be bigger, we decided to go with something a little different.
We were feeling a little nostalgic when we designed this 80’s Acrylic Logo for our sales department, and it really makes the area pop.
For this piece we wanted to play around with the contrast of Gloss on Matte. The logo is opaque white ¼” acrylic stud mounted to the wall. But that’s not a wall painted red, that’s a digitally printed matte Dreamscapes “Pique” wall covering. This particular wallpaper is a great way to add some eye-catching texture that propels your design into “truly awesome” territory.
And if you pop around the corner, you’ll find a very special wall in the hallway.
We find that having pieces like this in our building help inspire us to always have our thinking caps on.
This look was created using one of our personal friends, vinyl. All of the vinyl was printed on a 3m IJ-40 film with a matte laminate and plotter cut and weeded. We did this so that the color behind it would show through all the negative spaces and really make it pop. We also boosted the visual appeal by using different thicknesses of painted acrylic letters. The different textures are a large part of what makes this wall so interesting to look at.
Turn That Frown Upside Down
No matter how creatively decorated a space is it can still be rough to be stuck inside all day. We decided to bring some of the great outdoors inside when we came up with the guy that we fondly call “Smiley”.
This live-action emoji is router cut out of faux turf that’s been mounted to a ¾” wooden backer. The warm glow behind that smile comes from being halo lit with LED strip lighting. The outer stained wooden frame was cut to shape on our Multicam Router.
Faux turf is a great medium for capturing that great feeling of being outside on a nice day. You might not be able to sit outside and work … but do you really want to, anyway? There are wasps out there. Also, spiders. We’d rather have Smiley, thanks.
And speaking of faux, that “brick” wall behind Smiley isn’t what it seems to be. Just like the red wall behind our office logo, this look was created with a digitally printed Dreamscapes “Sandblast” wall covering with latex inks. This kind of design allows you to achieve the aesthetic of almost any wall texture you want without all the extra hassle.
Added bonus: Latex inks are a great choice for office spaces because they are free of VOC’s when printed on a latex device. It’s the first digitally printable wallpaper that is Type II certified for corporate interiors.
And we know what you’re thinking.
“Wallpaper!? Who am I, my grandma?”.
But don’t worry, this isn’t your average wallpaper. Unlike the wallpaper in your grandmother’s house, designs digitally printed on Dreamscapes wall coverings remove more easily for future changes. It does not, however, come with the fond childhood memories. Yet. We’re working on it.
The Future is Faux
Smiley was a success, but faux turf isn’t just for smaller projects. In fact, we did a whole faux grass wall for Ketel One.
The logo was done with acrylic letters with a copper chem-metal finish laminate on the front, creating a sheen that compliments the natural look of the wall behind it. We made sure the sides of the letters were painted to match with our Matthew’s paint system. After the letters were done and ready to shine, they were stud mounted with spacers to backer.
The faux grass creates an interesting contrast with the letters that you would never get with a normal wall. So not only does it help make the space feel more natural and relaxing, but it also turns it into art. Not that we’re trying to brag or anything (we kind of are).
What’s In Store For You?
What modifications would you love to make to your building? The options are almost endless when you’re playing around with different textures, materials and spaces and wouldn’t you know it, we’ve got the perfect set of skills to take a good idea and make it even bigger.
Ready for something different? Know exactly what you want? Not sure where to start? It doesn’t matter where you’re at in your thought process, contact us, and we’ll get the ball rolling.
