Have you ever wondered why we are attracted by certain colors? As a matter of fact, all of them influence us to a certain extent. The nature of such impact derives from the unconscious part of our selves.
Colors also affect the productivity of our work. They are profoundly important to our mood and psychological comfort. It turns out that productive colors do make a difference to overall performance.
The Wall Street Journal has researched that a growing number of large companies use colors as a tool for reducing stress at work and make the office more homelike, which increases productivity. If your team is surrounded by their favorite colors, they are more likely to achieve better results and overcome stress (which is inevitable at work).
What Colors Are the Best to Boost Productivity?
As a matter of fact, it depends greatly on each specific occupation. Let's now learn more on productive colors for some of them.
Blue
Blue is generally considered to be the most productive color. It works well for occupations such as accountants and IT-developers. It’s also good for managing stress. It turns out that a blue office with a touch of orange makes the atmosphere more live and emotional which is good for productivity.
Orange and Yellow
These colors are good for boosting creative thinking and fantasy. They usually stimulate new ideas and solutions as well as create optimistic and bright moods. Orange and yellow offices are good for companies that want to encourage enthusiastic and energetic mindset among their team.
However, these colors might also cause anger, annoyance, or discontent for no obvious reasons. Also, painting lunch rooms or office kitchens in these colors has proved to influence team spirit well.
Red
Red is usually considered to be an aggressive color. It's good for stimulating physical work as it increases the heart rate. People get more excited and energetic which enhances the rhythm of work and hence, productivity. Researchers at the University of British Columbia have also found out that red is extremely good for offices where teams perform detail-rich tasks (that is, attention and concentration are constantly required).
Green
Green is perfect for encouraging balance and peace. It's reassuring, calm and relaxing. So people who long for a balanced and peaceful atmosphere usually think this color to be the most productive. It’s a very good color to paint the office where people are busy all day long, running from desk to desk and hurrying each other. It also provides a great rest on the eyes, so people working in front of computers for most of their day might find it very helpful.
Neutral Colors
Colors such as white, black, grey and brown are good choices to complement the colors. What is really good about them is that they tend to calm down more aggressive, brighter colors and provide a nice change on moods.
It’s Not Color that Matters, but Its Saturation?
Angela Wright, color psychologist, presented a quite different approach. In her book, “The Beginner's Guide to Colour Psychology”, she expressed the opinion that it’s not the color itself, but its intensity, that really influences productivity.
It means that colors with high saturation stimulate productivity in a larger extent than the ones with low saturation – the latter have a soothing, relaxing effect. Look at the picture below to see the difference:
Source: http://alifeofproductivity.com/angela-wright-interview/
These findings are definitely worth taking into account. Companies such as Shell, British Telecom, Unilever, The Body Shop and others have already done so and implemented the results of the survey into their own working environments.
Angela Wright has also concluded that generally blue colors affects the mind, yellow – the emotions, red – the body and green – the balance between them all. Thus finding a right, productive colors for your own office might improve spirits inside your team, create a comfortable working environment and increase productivity.
