The type of innovation people bypass most frequently is design innovation. The way things look, and feel can be just as important as their intended function. If you perceive function as the only way to move forward, you are missing a grand opportunity!
In almost all industries, form follows function—until, somewhere down the pike, someone discovers the value of form, and the product category explodes. From the invention of the automobile to running shoes, function has lead the way. Cars started out as big black ugly boxes, and athletic footwear as white rubber with canvas things for your feet to make you run faster without breaking a body part.
In office environments, conference rooms were dominated by large, brown-wood rectangular things they called boardroom tables. These were rather unnoticeable and certainly held no brand relevance. However, they provided space to sit around, hold papers, and write notes.
In today’s age, cars have become sleek and colorful. Sporty versions in red, yellow, and orange are not that uncommon. Athletic footwear has become prolific in style, vivid color, material, and purpose. Modern conference-room tables are slowly making the curve as people’s mental framework changes from common to design-focused. Perhaps, because the modern office lifestyle has not fully caught on to all of this, we can cut them some slack.
Let’s talk about your brand. Have you allowed your branding to be limited to the usual ads, website, shows, etc.? At 90 Degree Office Concepts, we believe there is nothing about your business that doesn’t communicate a message about your company, intentionally or otherwise—and that includes your conference room.
Your conference-room design is one way to ensure that the identity you’ve chosen for your brand doesn’t work against you. The primary enemy of the average company’s brand is the mirror image of their core competency—kind of like an evil twin. Eliminate images that speak a different language than your brand message.
In your business, the last thing you want is for the key areas people visit (reception areas and conference rooms) to miscommunicate who you are. Making the words and the music match as one beautiful song throughout your workplace is crucial for sending a consistent message.
At 90 Degree Office Concepts, we believe any company that leaves the brand of their business exclusively to the branding department is making a huge mistake. There isn’t anything you do that doesn’t send a message…including how you design your modern conference room. Most people believe what they see before anything else. In terms of conference rooms—or any facet of your business that features visual components—pretty beats ugly every time.
One way to be innovative is to take functional tools like conference-room tables and chairs and make them visually attractive and brand-relevant. To ignore design is to ignore brand relevance.
We can help!
