Even the hues we wear to work affect the state of our mind, reports David Maida
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The colours in your workplace are affecting you in ways you might never have stopped to realise, says chartered colour therapist and author, Thelma van der Werff.
"Colour changes everything. Colour is a function of light. Since colour enters the brain it will interfere with our emotions, our thought patterns and our physical being," says van der Werff, the owner of Colour Comfort and the author of two books on colour.
She says there is no one ideal colour for offices and people should first carefully consider how the space is being used.
"Is it a meeting room? Is it a computer room or is it the hall?"
Every colour reflects different moods, emotions and characteristics.
The colour of a room should support the activities being done in it.
But one colour which many offices might be able to easily get away with is yellow.
"One of the ideal colours for the office environment would be like a very soft yellow because yellow is a mild colour.
"It's a colour that helps concentration. It's a focus colour. It makes the mind very alert."
Yellow is the colour of sunlight and reflects youthfulness, persistence, fearlessness and determination. But different colours communicate a wide variety of characteristics.
"Turquoise is a fantastic colour for creativity. Light blue is a good colour for communication. If you have brown it's very structured and a colour for reliability."
Turquoise is not exactly the most common colour you see in a workplace these days but its ability to communicate inventiveness, inspiration and imagination could make it well suited for many office environments.
A call centre would do well to use some turquoise on perhaps one wall, van der Werff says. But too much turquoise conveys indecision, unreliability and impulsiveness.
"It is so important to find a balance, not overdose or lack certain colours."
Office workers can often find themselves surrounded by neutral colours and dull lighting which van der Werff says is not healthy.
"In the office, you're under artificial light and you're lacking certain colours of blue and green. For that reason often you get more tired.
"I encourage people to work under full spectrum light because even if you're sitting very close to a window, within 1m of the window is not full spectrum light anymore. Full spectrum light is daylight."
Some professionals might consider using a colour like burgundy in their offices because of its noble characteristics. "Burgundy is a colour that is all to do with value and appreciation of the finer things in life."
Burgundy creates an atmosphere which is refined, powerful, knowledgeable, sophisticated and traditional. It could work well in a lawyer's office on an accent wall.
But van der Werff cautions against using any colour for more than 70 per cent of an area.
Colours can start to display their negative characteristics. In the case of burgundy, overuse could appear indulgent, spoilt, negative and dependent on luxury, she says.
There are some colours which van der Werff says are not appropriate for use in an office.
"You would want to avoid colours like violets because it's a very meditative colour. Purple you can fit in because purple gives you inspiration."
Red is generally recognised as a colour which should be used sparingly.
Sitting in a red room has certain effects on us, van der Werff says.
"Your heartbeat will go up. You will start to breathe faster. After a while you can even become warmer and even get frustrated or aggressive."
Even if we're not conscious of it, different wavelengths of light are entering our eyes and affecting our hypothalamus, which is the brain's thermostat.
"Every colour will have a different message to the brain. It's the way we're built. It just happens. It's a physical thing."
Orange is a very welcoming colour. It conveys perseverance, self-motivation, tirelessness and interest. But van der Werff says you don't have to repaint the walls to take advantage of an accent colour like orange.
"Have some orange flowers on your desk. Work with orange colours or yellow folders and all colour folders. Don't be boring. Go wild with colour. Bring colour back into your life."
Green can bring an office a sense of optimism, friendliness, generosity and diplomacy.
So it's important to think about the mood and theme of an office setting before you just pick a colour that appeals to you.
"There is no good colour. There is no bad colour."
But there is one colour which van der Werff says we see far too much of in the office.
It's not on the walls but in what we wear into the office.
She says the colours we wear also affect our state of mind.
"Get out of the black uniform. There are different colours, like the burgundies and the greys and the navy blues and the browns and the turquoises that can have a very sophisticated look as a uniform or as a suit, but it's not black."
Black is a lifeless colour which is impersonal, rigid and stubborn.
A grey, as an office colour or as a suit, reflects self-discipline, trustworthiness, emotional stability and reliability.
"Grey is a good colour to inspire the intellect."
Light is like a nutrient, van der Werff says, but like vegetables, each colour has its own benefit and should be used in conjunction with the others.
The more we can do to have different colours in the office, the better.
"What you could do is bring colour into your own office space. Whatever people want to hang up on their walls or put on their desks just brings in colour."
Contact David Maida at:
www.davidmaida.com
