TenantBase Blog

How Office Color Can Affect Your Company's Mood

Color has a real, studied effect on mood and productivity. How to choose an office color palette that actually fits your team and your brand.

June 14, 2016 By TenantBase

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According to scientific studies, an office's color could have a real effect on its occupants. As a startup, you'll be spending a lot of your time in the office, so choosing the right decor for your space has a large impact on your productivity. It may be overwhelming at first, but these tips will help you create an environment for success.

Find a Space

Choose Your Color

Blue

Calming

Red

Energizing

Yellow

High energy

Orange

High energy

Green

Balanced

White

Sterile

Color has a profound impact on our mood, so it's beneficial to understand the effects each color could have on your employees and future clients. Blue has a tendency to be calming because we associate it with the open sky and serene ocean. Red typically excites and motivates physical action or assertiveness. Yellow and orange are typically grouped together because both are correlated with high, positive energy, but studies show these bright colors could be overwhelming for those working long hours. Green is often the most recommended color for those spending many hours in the office because it's calming and not particularly disruptive to mood.

Although there's debate on whether these colors and moods directly correspond, many studies have found that white can actually be detrimental to productivity, since it's often associated with sterile and impersonal environments. WeWork's Irvine Spectrum location offers a good real-world example: lighter colors open up the shared space, while vibrant colors in the furniture keep the environment feeling energized.

Personalize to Your Needs

Your space should be tailored to your startup's industry. If your product or office environment emphasizes physical mobility, and you're trying to energize the people in your space, warm colors can help generate that goal. Employees mainly working at their desk for many hours of the day would benefit from cooling colors, since these hues stabilize and calm an environment. By selecting a palette that matches your company's mood, the space embodies the aim of your business within itself.

Stay Consistent

Carrying a theme from the colors in your logo to the space sets a reassuring consistency for employees and clients. By connecting familiar elements that define your business to small details in the office, you make occupants of the space feel like part of the bigger picture.

Find a Space Worth Designing

A local tenant rep can help you find space with the right bones for whatever palette you have in mind.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What color is best for a productive office?

Green is often recommended for spaces where people work long hours, since it's calming without being particularly disruptive to mood. Blue also tends to have a calming effect, while studies suggest white can actually hurt productivity since it's associated with sterile, impersonal environments.

Should office color match my company's industry?

It helps. A business emphasizing physical mobility or energy may benefit from warmer colors, while teams working at a desk for long hours often benefit from cooler, calming colors. The goal is a palette that reflects what the space needs to do.

Why does color consistency with my brand matter in office design?

Carrying colors from your logo into your physical space creates a sense of consistency for employees and clients, connecting familiar brand elements to the details of the office and making the space feel like part of a bigger, coherent picture.