Diamonds and rubies have value of a certain kind to many people. Family may has value of a different kind to others, and high speed internet offers up a completely different value to still others.
It doesn’t matter where you live, work, play or travel to, environment will often control what you wear, what you eat, how you think and even your ability to breath. It doesn’t matter if you are an earthling or from another planet, environment will have more control over your life and possibly things you take for granted. It doesn’t matter where you are from, your environment will label you as a Texan, a Brit or a Martian.
Whatever choice you make for your person or your business shapes how others think of you. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the height of the hemline of your dress, or the color of your office reception area, it shapes what people think. If the hemline is too high, some may think it’s too suggestive and if it’s too low others make think of it as being prudish.
Being old school in my approach to buying large ticket items such as an office reception desk (needing to see and touch), it still amazes me that modern day internet shoppers will buy office furniture online spending hundreds, and even thousands of dollars with having only relative information about what they are buying, and who they are buying it from. Call me old fashion in that regard if you must, I will wear that badge.
Designing a small office reception area is more often than not, cause for much indecision and frustration. Besides our conference room(s), clients spend more of their time in this area of our workplace than any other.
You spend hours looking around, website after website looking for that perfect reception desk for your business lobby. It’s important to you because you want to make a good first impression when customers come to visit. After all your sweat, indecision and questions, you finally find one that you like. You plop down your credit card and have it shipped. You receive it finally! It’s in a million pieces but you don’t care because you had nothing to do all day Saturday anyway. You put it together after much trial and error. You’re set. On Monday your receptionist tells you it looks great, but she needs a scouch more room, so you pull it away from the wall a few more inches and the side panel pops off. YOU WANT TO DIE!
A blind women (who we will call Sheena), while completing her manicure, was asked to choose the polish color she preferred. Being unable to make the selection on her own, she turned to a fellow patron and asked; “Which color do you prefer? Ballet Slippers or Adorable”? “Definitely the Ballet Slippers” the woman replied. “Why”? Sheena inquired. “Because it’s elegant,” the patron responded.
Design, inside and out of a workplace, be it a retail, office or service facility, has an unimaginable impact on brand perception and ultimately, what customers are inclined to spend.
- Avoid Clutter; clutter makes your reception area appear smaller
- Use multifunctional office furniture pieces (conserves space)
- Scale office reception furniture to work with size of space (don’t waste space with furniture that eats space)
- Make use of awkward spaces for storage (space conservation)
- Choose functional office reception furniture rather than nonperforming pieces (make your reception desk and other pieces function to tasks)
- Utilize natural light wherever possible (light makes spaces appear larger)
- Use light colors on furniture...
When it comes to knowledge, sometimes we think we know, and we nail it! At other times, we think we have it all sewn up, and we wind up paying twice the price, embarrassing ourselves, or wishing we had never started in the first place. Then there are times when we don’t know that we don’t know, and we move forward anyway. These are the times for which we often pay dearly.
