As modern lifestyle gets more and more reclusive, a creative workplace decor can boost employee productivity and happiness. Find out all about how nature and travel themes are trendy this year in office decor ideas with rustic textures and warm colors.
How Important in Office Decor in the Millennial Lifestyle
in the millennial age, people are getting more secluded as indoor activities like social media chats and internet browsing have replaced outdoor activities like cycling or picnics. As such, workers are spending more and more time indoors.
The modern lifestyle has many parts that affect health for better or worse, such as changing food habits, leisure activities, work environments and social lives. However, the lack of exposure to nature is one of the underlying factors modern lifestyle commonly has for people across many professions. And that is one of the causes of increased stress and reduced concentration in workers.
Many studies have shown that office design affects productivity. Other than the basics like cleanliness or natural lighting, a lively office decor improves the workers’ overall mood. Everything from textures to colors to arrangement of furniture can subconsciously affect employees’ mood.
I can say this even from personal experience. My first job out of college was at a beautiful, newly-built corporate office with extra daylight and clean, white interiors. Although I loved my office, I was sometimes put off by the role itself, which was less creative than I had hoped.
So I applied for a job in a magazine and got an offer straight away. However, when I returned to my office, trying to make up my mind on whether to quit or not, I immediately knew the answer. I wouldn’t be able to leave the swanky white office for a cluttered one. It would kill the creative writing mood. And so I just happily freelanced as a magazine writer instead of joining there full-time. Never regretted that decision, ever. Guess why our tiny office at ShilpaAhuja.com is all white!
Latest Trends in Office Decor Ideas
1. Millennials are Loving Nature & Travel Themes
For small workplaces like startups or home offices, using color and materials creatively is becoming very important (and common). Nature inspirations and travel themes are the top trends when it comes to small office ideas, since they can keep employees happy, especially when it comes to Gen Z and millennial workforce.
2. Earthy Colors & Natural Fibers are Back
Earthy colors and textures are back – think natural fibers, raw and unfinished looking wall paints and limestone-like tiles. Bright earthy colors like rust, brick, autumn orange, leaf and olive green are increasingly being used for office desk decor and furniture. Warm neutrals like beige, slate, desert sand and walnut are getting trendy for walls and flooring. Trending natural materials for office decor ideas are wood, bamboo, clay, jute, cotton, shell and stone.
View these moodboards I designed for a startup office interior in Bangalore, targeting employee interest and happiness. The startup provides coworking spaces.
3. Lighter Colors Improve Productivity for Workstations
Office lounges are becoming livelier, designed using fun, brighter colors. This helps employees unwind at lunchtime or feel happy while coming in every morning. Whereas cubicle decor and office wall decor is getting lighter colors to improve concentration levels while at work. The latest cubicle decor ideas are embracing a zen minimalism.
4. Cubicles Over Open Office Layouts
Some offices are mixing up open office design with cubicles, since cubicles contribute to distraction-free working environment, improving productivity.
“Your personal workspace is one of the most overlooked factors that affect productivity,” says Jamie Fertsch, director and co-founder of XDesk, a U.S.-based company that creates customized, ergonomic desks in an article published last month in Business News Daily. “Breaking up your work time with mental rest periods improves productivity while moving around in small bursts throughout the day can lower stress levels and improve health.”
5. Plants or Nature-Inspired Prints to Improve Mood
A UK study on the co-relation of office design and productivity showed that researchers found enriching a ‘lean’ office with plants could increase productivity by 15%. Home office design is especially getting greener this year.
Where plants are not possible, nature prints can be a great alternative. Wallpapers, print fabrics, graphic-printed glass doors and patterned laminates can add an extra layer of warmth to the office decor. Leaves, trees and climbers are very popular, since they add the looking-outside-a-window effect. Even dog prints are getting trendy, to bring a homey feel to the workplace.
6. Office Decor Ideas with Warmth are Popular
A warm, loving feel is the new factor a modern workplace is trying to have. The idea is not to necessarily replicate a home, but to create an environment where one can concentrate and yet feel good.
Overall, we can see how these new styles have started trending to meet the growing demands of the millennial and Gen Z lifestyle. We’re sure bringing nature into workplaces is not going out of fashion any time soon, whether it’s through actual trees or through above ideas! Let us know your thoughts on these new workplace decor ideas and trends by tweeting us @shilpa1ahuja.
Muaah 🙂
Shilpa Ahuja a designer and entrepreneur. She is the editor-in-chief of ShilpaAhuja.com, which she founded with the goal of inspiring confidence in the modern working woman through fashion.
Fashion has traditionally been for the rich, white, thin woman. That’s how it evolved over centuries and that’s how it’s been represented in fashion media. But Shilpa believes that with the changing role of women in the society, fashion has changed, too. She believes that fashion is for everyone, regardless of their age, gender, color, body type and background. So she translates runway fashion into easy style advice that one can incorporate into their daily lives.
Shilpa’s work has been published in the University of Fashion blog and Jet Airways magazine. She is also an artist, illustrator and cartoonist. She is also the creator of Audrey O., a comic series that represents the lifestyle of millennial women. She enjoys creative writing and world travel. Her art has been exhibited at Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Aroma Hotel, Chandigarh and been published in Chandigarh Times.
Originally from Chandigarh, Shilpa also has a professional degree in architecture and has worked in interior project management. She is also the author of the book “Designing a Chinese Cultural Center in India”. Shilpa has a Masters in Design Studies degree from Harvard University. For feedback and questions, please email [email protected]
Kirti Khanna
October 8, 2018 at 2:03 pm
Thank you for the good ideas. Loved the travel ideas. Looking forward to more such ideas on home and workplace decor.