How to Build a Creative Office Space

Design is all about creating solutions for real people and problems. Any design — be it digital design, architectural design or the design of clothes. It’s a process of pure creativity and involves a great deal of imagination and intuition. 
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Having said this, the design of an office can do a lot to foster any creative flow. This is why we spent quite some time liberating and optimizing our work environment. Today, we’d love to share our 5 best practices with you that have proven to get our creative juices flowing.

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01 Space to breathe

We already knew this when moving from a busy, cluttered co-working space to our own studio: Creative minds need space to rest and breathe. So even if you do have a lot of space, don’t overload it with furniture, decorative elements or basically any kind of redundant stuff. Allow the office to breathe and be. Speaking of wide and clear space, we also found that daylight helps to open and soothe the atmosphere at our office. Also, installing artificial light sources that are dimmable and match natural daylight tones equally support the friendliness and lightness of an office and thereby help focus your mind.

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02 Clean & clutter-free

Complementing the first aspect, we recognized the importance of visual calmness and blankness. Meaning: Keeping our whiteboards clean when not working with them, organizing and clearing both physical desks and virtual desktops to not get distracted but stay focused. If you like to keep magazines, good, but don’t spread them out all over the office but keep them at one designated spot. Remove tools like markers, notebooks or post-its when you’re done with them. A basic rule for us: put everything aside that is not supportive and necessary for the creative flow we’re attaining.

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03 Change of scene

Sometimes all it needs is a change in scenery to get the creative juices flowing again. We love to start working seated at our beautiful, clean desk, followed by switching to a standing position next to a whiteboard or high table, using our conference room for a call or even a little nap on our cozy couch or diving into a little video call whilst sitting on our main couch. Changing the environment, even if it just means changing from a sitting to a standing position or moving to the other corner of the room can unfold a lot of creative potential. So if you do have the space, make sure to creative different work stations for different needs, situations and people.

04 Peaceful plants

Numerous scientific studies have proven the positives of having more greenery in your workspace. And we definitely agree: Plants are awesome. Not just because they give a very hip and botanical vibe that enrich any studio’s aesthetics, they also cleanse the air, quieten the mind and connect us with at least some smaller part of nature. Did you know that proponents of colour psychology argue that green is a colour with a relaxing and calming effect that helps reducing stress? Right. Plants are both beautiful to look at when needing a break from draining office tasks and equally serve as antidote to over-stimulation and thereby have a high chance to boost any cognitive performance.

05 Cozy up

If you’re as motivated and passionate like us, you are most likely going to spend a lot of time at your office. So make it feel like a second home, allow it to be comfortable and welcoming. For us that means having a bad-ass coffee machine, good acoustics for some chilled music, comfortable seating, and — obviously — nice and beautifully designed utensils like cups, mugs and notebooks (thanks muji).

In the end, we are living beings that need an atmosphere of comfort, peace and acceptance, not some heartless, uninvolved machines. A good combination of coziness and style make work a place that you actually like and not just put up with.

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A few last, additional thoughts:

As well as having a nice, beautiful and spacious office, it’s also the people that make creativity and inspiration flow. Make sure to have people on board that share your mindset — aesthetically, humanly and work-related. People that respect your need of space and quietness, that follow the same vision and make you learn from another. But, of course, talking about the right people is a whole new story that we’ll talk about another time. Keeping you posted.

In the end, this is how we picture our creative office space. Nonetheless, we know how divers people and their needs and feelings are, so what works for us might not be the best for you. We definitely love new perspectives and a good talk, so feel free to reach out and share your personal thoughts about creative office spaces with us.