Creative offices – how to design a home from home

Home, home is where the heart is, that’s what they say, isn’t it? But your workspace can be a home away from home. This is an important concept to consider when thinking about the creative industries. All those late nights slaving away on your latest concept for a client, or meticulously putting the finishing touches to your own Sistine Chapel – the hours rack up pretty quickly.

Creative businesses need to understand this concept. If they don’t make the workplace inspirational and flexible, then they really are missing a trick.

Office design influences your biggest asset: your people. Culture supersedes design; a good design reflects the culture of the business. The key is having a space that reflects the culture of everything that motivates and drives your people and your business. A space with autonomy and flexibility, that’s a space that can transform a business.

When looking at the new workspace design for BrandOpus, I appreciated that a workspace is somewhere that people need to feel comfortable in order to be the best that they can be.

We designed the studio to reflect the many different ways in which people work. We were also very aware of how we wanted to make our guests feel too: clients should feel inspired in the studio, and have a sense that this is where they want their brand to be crafted and curated, by people who are creative experts.

I think that key to the success of the new studio is it’s ability to adapt. Home is a constantly growing collection of things that trigger memories of where we have been while inspiring the way we might think tomorrow – it is key that the environment evolves and never stands still. In the studio we’ve made space for the things that knit us together, and appreciate that these will change over time.

There is no way that the space will look exactly the same next week, let alone next year. In this way our working home becomes a reflection of collectively who we are, what we do and where we’ve been.

Irreverent and flexible workspaces make for exciting workspaces, bursting with creative energy, where people can shine and produce their best work. Your office space can be a physical manifestation of your organisation’s vision and values, inspiring your staff to be curious, innovative and creative.

They can also stimulate your people, helping them to think in new and interesting directions, producing work that is new and innovative for your clients. After all, isn’t that what we all want?

Paul Taylor is executive creative director at BrandOpus.