Picture this: you go to work every day and you have one cubicle, you have one kitchen area, and you have one bathroom area.

All of them are grey. You stylize your cubicle with a pictures, maybe a couple of little decorations here and there, but you still can’t get out of the absolute blandness and “boringness” of your current office.

Whether you want to believe it or not, there’s a reaction from your brain from the colors that you face within your workplace everyday.

Hence, me writing about the effect, or, psychology of colors in a workplace. In fact, here’s what Jake and I had to say about the subject:

Aside from colors, one of the cooler things I’ve learned is the effect of actual physical workplace has on people’s productivity and how they interact with one another –This is something that was preached to me by the President of RISD and a former dean at MIT (if I recall). But, I’ll write about that subject a little down the road.

For now, continue reading this post, look around your office, and start seeing if you can make a couple of changes here and there to make your workplace run faster.

The Effects Of Color On The Mind

One of the most interesting studies I’ve seen for online marketers is Buffer’s study on how colors affect how users interact with a website.

It basically explains “why facebook is blue” and why certain websites opt to choose certain colors in designing within their website. If you have the ability (and resources) to create a cool atmosphere to match your companies “vibe” (see what I did there), or even a department’s vibe, pick certain colors that go with your employees.

Companies with resources like Google have the ability to A/B test what colors make different departments or employees more productive. So they’ll constantly repaint a room within a department to see how it affects someone’s mood, which I’ll get into a little bit later.

Unfortunately, not all companies have those kind of resources so stick to the basics.

Keep a good calm atmosphere by having a nice light blue room for your creatives, maybe have a couple of green or red rooms for meetings, or business people, study the effect of colors, and maybe host a series of employee surveys in order to see if it’ll affect the company greatly.

The Effects Of Color On Your Mood

There are different studies on the type of colors or patterns to avoid when designing a workplace, and it’s all for good reason; it can easily affect your mood.

Think of the example that I gave earlier and how it can affect your mood. Waking up to something bland and boring is not going to create an atmosphere or culture that you’re excited to wake up to every morning.

For better or for worse, colors affect our moods, and the last thing you would want is to work in a workplace that you absolutely dread.

So when coming up with a design or an idea, take into the consideration the “psychology” behind choosing that color within your workplace. And when talking about the psychology of colors in a workplace, make sure you’re doing “mood research” in order to find out what works.

Last thing you want to do is stuff someone in an enclosed white room, with nothing to look at but their computer and expect a lot of results. Unless of course, the room is white because of IdeaPaint and you can draw all of your ideas, plans, and thoughts on them, then that’s absolutely ok.

The Effects Of Color On Your Productivity

The last thing to take into consideration is the effect of colors on productivity.

There are dozens of articles that talk about how certain colors improve productivity and how to properly set up workplaces. I would have to suggest that you give them a search and see what type of colors you would like to see implemented within your office.

So ring up that interior designer and see what type of colorful, vibrant atmosphere you can come up with. You might even end up having one of those “dream offices” that people love to work at.

Look at the colors, see what works, and if you can, do what’s best for you, your organization, and your employees. At the end of the day, a simple touch up can make worlds of difference.

Your Thoughts On The Psychology of Colors In A Workplace?

What colors do you see in your office? What color should you make your office? Let us know in the comments below, and if possible, send us some images of your awesome little space.