Branding Your Office Environment
Branding your office environment gives you a bold canvas upon which to tell your story. It is responsive in a way that white walls and corporate colors can never be. Communication provides a very important element in the dynamic of your marketing, but it doesn’t stop there. Environmental branding provides a very tactile solution to putting your brand and services in front of the staff and clients that enter your workspace. Unused spaces, like stairwells and hallways, can come to life with color, text, and graphics that tell your story. Creatively enforcing your brand message through your interior design can give your workstyle a personality unique to your business or service.
Branded environments continue to trend in office design. Businesses are experiencing benefits well beyond just adding their logo in the reception area and positioning a few pops of the brand color around the office. Putting your vision, mission, and rhetoric into design elements around your office creates a much more interesting story about your company. With more open plan office design presence these days, there are plentiful opportunities to create unique environmental statements around your office:
- Breakrooms
- Reception Areas
- Glass Walls
- Corridors
- Huddle Spaces
- Conference Rooms
This is a startup economy. Giving your brand an edge is what it takes to succeed. Whether you are just starting out with your brand or refreshing an existing brand, creatively enforcing the message within your environment will give your space a unique vibe. And don’t be afraid of color! As you start to tell your story within your aesthetic, you will immediately notice involvement! People will start asking questions and communicating about it. Include them in the process. This is how innovation ensues and the dynamic of collaboration begins and expands among your team and business partners. Get inspired by the wonderful work provided to office furniture manufacturer Haworth by the talented branded environment team at Perkins+Will.
Retail establishments take this kind of brand marketing to heart, and you are probably used to seeing seasonal offers and signage in that context. If your company manufactures or sells a product or service, the philosophy behind the marketing would be more applicable to the office interior. But branded environments are more of an opportunity to tell the story behind what you sell. It’s about the people, the vision, and the path rather than the selling. Remember, you are creating a culture within your office, not selling the product. Understanding the message behind the image is a branded environment’s job. Here are a few reasons why companies are embracing environmental branding.
Just as colleges and universities have embraced the open collaborative concept now prevalent in office design, so have they encouraged this trend in visual communication through messaging. Education is where the visual mindset begins and carries over into the workplace culture. This attracts and keeps top talent. They want to be “in touch.” Storytelling with your brand endeavors to engage, enlighten, and educate. Branding design communicates not only the story behind your product or service but the culture behind your team. A strong collaborative culture is a known motivator and retainer of talent. It speaks to your past and your future and it will change and evolve as your business grows and evolves.
Just as space planning and design play a key role in the functionality of your office space, so follows branding in the outbound message you provide to your clients, customers, and staff. When the two collaborate they become a powerful force for change in your business. Enriching the office environment encourages collaboration with a clear brand message behind it. Working with a designer will be your best option, they will help you clearly define the best vision for messaging within your space. Having a clear mission statement in mind will help them and speed up the process. Thinking outside box is recommended. Be open to the ideas your team of designers and space planners present. Branded environments are an investment worth collaborating on for your vision of the future.
For more inspiration visit us on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter! Jump over to Instagram and see what Mr. Green is up to!
Photo from Perkins+Will.
MEET TERESA ALVAREZ: Teresa is an office furniture specialist who can help your business find the best short or long term solution from our selection of rental office furniture. She can work with your designer and answer any space planning questions you might have about environmental design. With 12 years experience in the office interiors and office supply business, she can guide your inspiration. Contact her via email at teresa@officefurniturenow.com or give her a call at 888-910-3769 x139.
