Apr 16
Creativity in the workplace
2007 at 05.54 pm posted by Veerle
I’ve talked about this a bit at WDN with Dave in our presentation. A good idea is more likely to origin from an inspiring environment than from an uninspiring work place. I think that’s a great starting point for today’s post. Personally I think it would be great if at the end we all snap a shot of our working environment and inspire each other. How you decorate your personal space is only part of the larger picture of course.
Creativity defined...
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online the definition of "creativity" is as follows:
The ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something new, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic object or form.
To me personally creativity is to master and control the random chaos in my head and bring all separate pieces together into harmony. It's making the most out of a complex mental process.
There are many forms of creativity. We designers have a different view than for example programmers. But what people sometimes forget is that a programmer needs to be inspired also. It's not because it looks more boring on the surface that it doesn't have its influence on the end result. A DJ can be inspired by the reaction of the crowd to his music and know what to next.
What makes a workplace inspiring?
For me it's hard to believe (because I've always been my own boss right from school) but there are people who see their workplace as a source of anxiety, stress and despair. A happy worker is creative and productive that's what I've always believed. Let's explore a few ways that can have an influence on the state of mind of the worker.
Listen
One way could be to listen to all ideas and explore them regardless of its origin. Making everybody feel part of the team regardless of his or her job description. In the case of programmers I know that some companies let their employees work on personal pet projects during working hours on a given day in the week. In many circumstances that's the origin of a product or feature that a company later can use.
Play
Another one is let people play during work. I know for example that my friends at Happy Cog have a Wii to play with during business hours. At the Googleplex employees can shoot pool while taking a break in one of several employee lounges. They also have a large idea board and a 2 swim-in-place pools. It doesn't stop there, Google employees can also take an afternoon volley ball break at Mountain View campus. I'm not sure if it's still the case now, but in the past people at Apple were allowed to bring their dog. All this is in place to keep the worker motivated and happy. When a worker is happy he is more motivated and it's not just doing it to receive a paycheck. I like to believe that a web-designer that works at such a motivating place will likely be more interested in using new methods and go the extra mile than a worker that just thinks about his paycheck. It's all about having a passion for what you do and making it pleasant is just one aspect of that process.
Coworking
Another example of an inspiring environment could be to share it with other people. In Vancouver Dave Shea talked about him working at a shared office called 'Workspace'. Two people who also started such a project last year are Tara Hunt and Chris Messina, it's called 'Citizen Space'. It's a nice place in San Francisco which is generally open from 10am - 6pm weekdays. They have a few residents but you can also drop by when you are in SF and use their Wifi etc. They also organize interesting things like a speaker training on the 21st of April. I've met both Chris and Tara and I can imagine working there must be lots of fun and inspiring. Some people also like to work at Coffee houses like Starbucks. I'm not sure if we have those coworking places in Belgium, at least not in the same setup as Citizen Space.
Decorating your workspace
For me the place around me and the things I need to look at are very important in finding my creativity. It comes down to many things like outside view, building (architecture), furniture, color, computer etc. We are still in the exploring stage to decorate our office.
Joyn
I kind of like the idea of something called 'Joyn'. Vitra calls it the platform for the network office. What I like about it is the flexibility that comes with it. On some projects we have to work together more closely and I like the idea of just reorganizing our desks to accommodate for that. If only they would place as much thought in their web presence as in their design : : : sigh : : :
Some examples of Joyn
- BBC London and Birmingham (U.K.)
- Mexx International
- Novartis, Basel (CH)
- The Seattle Public Library, Seattle
- Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM), Los Angeles (USA)
inspiring examples
Pixar
At Pixar there aren't any grey cubicles because their employees have the freedom to decorate as they see fit. The end result looks amazing! My personal favorites are the little huts in a row, where each hut is a separate office.
Red Bull London
That's the most advanced I've seen so far to be honest. You're upstairs and you don't feel like taking the stairs, no problem just glide down in the carbon slide instead :) It immediately makes you feel that there's no room for grey and tie wearing salesmen.
Mindlab
The Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs in Copenhagen, Denmark has Mindlab. It's a meeting place for all employees. Its heart is an egg shaped meeting room with walls that are whiteboards so that you can write on any wall.
These offices were also mentioned in this post
Clearleft
The guys at Clearleft did something nice with their new office too. The oversized clothes pegs and letters are a nice touch. If I remember correctly the tables were custom built.
What is your idea? How would you do it?
So what's the perfect working space in your mind? What do you do to get it? Does it have to be modular so it can change often? What makes you feel good? I'm really interested in hearing your ideas about this subject.
Post your office picture in the group
I already did it in the past and would like to do it again, but a little different this time. I've set up a Flickr group called 'Inspiring workplaces'. So if you would like to post your personal space there, that would be super! It's my hope that this group grows to be a big group where you can go to and absorb some inspiration of other people's working space. So go ahead and snap a picture of your desk and become a member and post it to the the group.
How to add your picture to the group
- Become a member of the group
- Upload your picture
- Use 'send to group' and choose the 'inspiring workplaces'
Adding the picture to the comments
- Click 'All sizes on Flickr for the static url and use the code of number 1
- Make sure the width is 640px tops. If not resize it by using the 'width' and 'height' in the code
53served
1
Some excellent examples of the perfect office if I may say so! Wish all employers would be like that… :(
2
I think I’m gonna mail this article to my boss!
3
i wish everybody would think of this as you do....awesome article!!!
some really cool pix too. i’ll upload mine tomorrow
4
Wow, great post. I really love the examples, especially the Red Bull offices.
I wonder if anyone has done a formal study of how plant life influences the work environment?
Anyway, thanks for the creative post, you run a great blog.
-Luke
5
Very timely! The contractor is coming a week from today to build out the office in my basement. Myself (and occasionally my business parter, when in town) have been working in an unfinished basement for a year and a half since my new house was built. Since the lot slopes, the work side is above ground with a sliding glass door and double window - but we’ve been running a ton of stuff off extension cords till now!
We’ll post some Before and After shots at some point.
6
I’ve two places ... yes, I know, I’m lucky ... :) ... I’m working at home in a very small room with a lot of city noise ... and in my studio in a quit part of the city (Rotterdam). I prefer the studio especially because of the space (60m2) en above all the hight of more than five (5) meters. Working at home my energy is totally gone after half a day computing ... in my studio I can go forever!
7
Working from home and being lucky enough to live where I do I find a lot of inspiration and, in moments of stress, comfort from taking a break outside whatever the weather. I’d love to see if there was a marked difference between urban offices and countryside-based offices. Certainly my office is not a designer work space but neither do I find it a depressing or uninspiring place to work but then the views out of the window are particularly pleasant.
8
All very nice, but I prefer the stripped down worn look of writer’s workspaces, as discussed on Momus’s blog
9
Great post, and very timely. I’m in the process of opening two offices (Chicago & Silicon Valley) for a new company and I’ve been struggling to find blogs that cover this topic.
In your research have you come across blogs/sites that highlight fantastic workspaces? Great ideas for budget-conscious offices?
Our goal is to not only inspire creativity, but hospitality & productivity. One office will be for managers/marketing/sales types… the other for engineering. Very different ways to inspire both.
10
*sigh* I work for a stodgy old government agency that does not allow me to really personalize my workspace. I get back at them, though: I steal paperclips by the pocket full.
11
doh! I just came back from a great tour of Google in Mountain View, CA. Would have been great to post some photos of that.
One thing that stood out is everyone’s work environment was different, and they were conducting ‘live’ experiments to eventually see if they could get the most productive and effective workplace going for their staff.
miles ahead of the rest.
12
Very cool! Though the red bull space looks over designed for my taste. Here’s how we did our studio.
13
I work in a world of beige albeit with differently shaped walls that at least create some variation. I’ve done my best with some Designers Republic prints and various colourful trinkets, but it’s hard to fight beige.
14
Hi Verlee,
those are some great offices, especially the Red Bull one. Also, joyn doesn’t look too bad.
I remember the article from Dave Shear, that’s when I first thought about the positive side-effects of a creative workspace. Well, nothing has changed in my room but I’m definitely inspired in my head as to how I would want to have it! ;)
I’m interested how your office turns out, keep us updated!
15
Mmmmm, nothing of note to show, just a simple little cheap desk with an iMac and some speakers. Nothing more.
For inspiration, I wish i lived in the forest.
Great article!
16
The little huts at pixar are really great, it looks very cosy!
17
Umm, wish I had some inspiring workspace, if you consider looking at a wall for the best part of a day inspiring, then i’ve got tons of inspiration.
Great blog by the way! 1 new subscriber right here ;)
18
I have to work for Pixar!!!
19
Really nice to see how companies design their offices generate more crativity. I personally love a modern, clear lounge-style most.
20
Vitra does some amazing workspace furniture and design. They have a number of ‘network offices’ which showcase their ideas about how work spaces should be - if you can blag a tour around their campus in Germany, its eye-opening (not to mention the number of amazing buildings by architects like Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry etc.)
And FYI.. watch this space, there’s a new vitra.com site coming this year.
21
As a developer I’ve always been inspired by the Fog Creek offices which are just a dream come true.
22
Hello Verle,
I just want to add the On My Desk Blog presenting the work space of artists and people from all around the world.
23
And another link I just stumbled upon: Room to Work
24
Nice pictures and interesting article, though the idea that most jobs will come even close to being inspirational and give as much freedom as the examples above is IMHO utopian. Those represent maybe 1% of all jobs? Let’s face it, most employers and managers don’t know how to inspire staff nor do they believe in doing so --probably don’t even care since it does not seem too important to them (nor to most of the people I’ve worked with in the past 18 years). It’s a sad but true… it’s mostly creative people that focus on these details it seems.
25
It’s really interesting to see many people’s office spaces, thanks for posting this, Veerle. :D
26
This is a really interesting subject to discuss. Once again you’ve picked a great topic talk about. Bravo!
p.s. Those Huts at Pixar Studios look so amazing. I can just imagine how nice is to work in a surrounding like that ;)
27
I saw some of them in the positivesharing.com post, they’re awesome. Where I work we have a typical office workspace, allthough we try to juice it up some. We’re installing a Wii soon, to encourage casual contact among collegues and some exercising too.
Wonderfully inspiring post and photo’s!
28
I had seen some of these photos before, thought it might have been in your own Flickr photoset. Each of these spaces is certainly stimulating for team or individual work. I will certainly visit the Flick pool in search of ideas I can take advantage of.
From time to time I imagine some complex and peculiar places to work, with my pen or pencil and my sketchpad: I have posted a couple of these imaginary studios in the blog GTDrawings.
29
I could not agree more and wish my first job employer will think the same way.
30
This is a great idea and post. In the next few months I will be moving into a new house and I will have to follow suit and dress the office up for a creative look like the examples you gave.
I have to agree totally as I also work part time in a government office and the surrounding’s are so boring and plain that its depressing…
31
Nice Office Places. Creativity is a state of mind affected by surroindings. As some one has said Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual. All these office places are inspiring and perfect example to show how out of box thinking can do wonders.
32
Excellent article!
It’s a refreshing change for me, working for a government department who see hotdesking as the future, to see such inspiring surroundings. Pixar’s office is such a contrast from my own where personal space is all but non-existent.
33
I did send a half decent photo of our space in Pune, but the really nice shot is on an ex-colleague’s Flickr account:
The space is designed to allow programmers to communicate as freely as possible with no cubicles getting in the way.
34
Wow, I’m absolutely agree with you, especially on these words: “for me the place around me and the things I need to look at are very important in finding my creativity. It comes down to many things like outside view, building (architecture), furniture, color, computer etc.”
Yep, and all this things make me feel better; not only on my work place.
35
Has anyone seen these offices? Studio Pistolet bleu. I really wanted to add these photos to the flickr group but i don’t think that’s okay so i’m only putting the link here.
36
I like the idea of co-working. If anyone else in Southampton, UK, is interested - do get in touch.
37
Thanks. As we moved our offices just recently from (small) Brooklyn, NY to (large) Lincoln, VT we have been thinking a lot about what we want our space to look like. Great article and it’s interesting to see what other’s are doing with their space as we consider ours. For fun and entertainment, even though we are a small staff we like to blow off an afternoon and go skiing, hiking or one of the many opportunities available outdoors for us.
38
That`s nice. :X
39
Hi Veerle,
I am a new fan of your blog, but a big one :D
Thank you for the eyecandy, and also thanks for the guys who linked their workspaces in their comments.
Your blog is the most inspirational of the web :D
And I think we all agree that we would love to hear from you more often (as in: more posts) ;)
40
Thanks for the article. I really think that a proper working environment is one of the keys to success. If it doesn’t look good, its not going to feel good, and that is bad for productivity. One thing you didn’t mention in the article is sleep time during work. Serious. No one is productive if they are tired at work, so let people relax on a sofa, or sleep under a desk - I dunno:) Plus, traditional work hours suck. I usually get my best ideas at 11:00 pm at night and then I work through until the morning. As long as they get the project done, who cares?
41
Love your work enviroment looks like it wouuld breed alot of positive people.
42
I once had a conversation with a co-worker about a circular work/meeting area for our department.
This would be a modular design (maybe using the golden ratio 1.62 phi?) utilizing an inner and outer area of walls or desks. The center would comprise a large table or work-center so that all dept. staff could meet quickly and go right back to their desks without having to trek back and forth from one office to the other ;^)
43
such office is necessary itself to do
44
I wish I will build such an office some day.
45
One of my favorite is Renzo Piano workshop near Genova. Another cool office is Mother london.
46
Today there was a link on Digg to some pictures of the Facebook offices, which have huge murals everywhere. <a >Check it out</a>.
47
I’m refurbishing my office right know, thanks for the great inspiration ;-)
Cheers,
Michael
48
Brilliant idea. btw. I really enjoyed reading all of your posts. It’s interesting to read ideas, and observations from someone else’s point of view… makes you think more. Greetings
49
I personally thought the Pixar offices were an interesting idea. Then again, one could expect no less from these creative geniuses.
50
My perfect place would be sometimes…
...Starbucks. Or nice cosy cafe/cafetteria, with free wifi, good coffee (and/or food;-)…
...sometimes I’d like to be able to work from home. Or from the parc accross. Sitting on the bench with nice small laptop, looking at the clouds sailing by and the sun and birds… feeling the air as well…
...Yes, taht would be it!
Nature always inspired me! I think a day of two working/or just getting ideas in the mountains/in the park/by the river/ would be great:)
Cheers:)
51
hi!!, my first post (de-lurking i suppose). Nice article!!, my boss should read this article, definitely.
I enjoy your blog, by the way.
52
These guys have quite a nice office here in ChCh
Strategy
53
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