As we approach the end of the year, make sure to keep your eye out for upcoming trends office trends that may impact your design decisions in 2018. Office fitout trends should consider both your functional needs and brand aesthetic. Bringing these two factors together will create a timeless and practical space that will fulfil your employee needs and ultimately, boost your company’s performance.

Skip ‘the next big thing’

Bright colours, neutrals, stripped back beams, polished concrete and marble reception… Each catch our eye as ‘the next big thing’, but often they don’t hold as timeless design decisions for office renovations. While your workplace should be aesthetically pleasing, a big design focus is shifting to higher levels of personalisation. Rather than relying on seasonal colours or trendy furniture selections to carry a design, have your interior designer deeply involved in capturing and understanding the DNA of your company. Take a look at this creative space created for Neto, a technology company who wanted to bring their culture to life. In this way, you’ll design a workplace that truly captures your workstyle, strategy, business needs, culture and core values into a physical setting.\

Have an “all in” attitude

Create a space that’s loved by every part of your business by involving all levels of staff on the decisions you make. Depending on how large your company is, this can include everything from a change in location to which chairs or desks they’d prefer. This is especially important in the case of medical and dental clinics where your reception staff, medical assistant staff and doctors will have completely different uses for each part of the office.

By asking for opinions and making shared decisions, you’ll be recognising the importance of what each role brings to the company and what physical elements contribute to employees performing at their best level. An opportunity for every employee to be involved in the process of your office fitout will only make the end result more appreciated and utilised by your staff.

Data driven design

Designers can now use environmental and behavioural research to make decisions and considerations for your office space. Depending on the goals of your office fitout (for example, higher work productivity or an increase in revenue), your interior design will help you make decisions to work towards this goal. This means you’re no longer guessing and making assumptions, but using proven methods to get exactly what you want. Your office fitout specialist should take a holistic approach to your office redesign, including consultation with an interior designer who will help you bring your ideas to life.

As you might note, office trends for 2018 are based on evergreen and timeless design and creating a space that works for all levels of employees. Keep these in mind for your next office fitout to achieve your company goals.