Optimising Your Space with a Modern Minimalist Office Design
Overview
Stylish, simple, and easy on your wallet, there’s a lot to love about the minimalist style when setting up an office.
A minimalist design not only helps you maximise space utilisation, it can also prevent distraction, improve productivity, cut down on clutter, and even reduce injuries by eliminating obstacles and tripping hazards in the environment.
Read on to learn more about setting up your own minimalist office design.
The Minimalist Office Space: Where Less is More
Whether you’re setting up a home office or fitting out a corporate one, a minimalist design is the ultimate in stylish functionality. The minimalist style prioritises the essentials and is characterised by simplicity, clean lines, and a neutral colour scheme. Stripping your office space back to the bare essentials also uncovers a kind of elegant simplicity that makes the style particularly popular in modern facilities.
By putting less physical ‘stuff’ into the room, you can accentuate the simple beauty of modern office design.
How to Get Started with Your Minimalistic Office Setup
The key to a successful minimalist office is styling with purpose. In short, if it doesn’t need to be there, it probably shouldn’t be! But while you won’t be putting much into the room, it’s important that what’s there is stylish, functional, and of high quality.
Start by making a list of everything you need. Things such as an ergonomic desk chair, a quality desk, storage cabinets or shelving units, and a table lamp will typically classify as ‘essentials’. When purchasing these items, try to avoid anything ornate or flashy, as this isn’t consistent with the minimalist style. Instead emphasise clean lines, solid colours, and a simple yet elegant design.
Consistency is also vital to a minimalist office, so be sure to choose pieces that match your chosen colour palette and the overall style of your interior design.
Choosing a Minimalist Office Desk
By cutting down on clutter and eliminating unnecessary objects, your office desk will become central to your interior design, so it’s important to choose a striking piece that suits the look of your office.
Going minimalist doesn’t mean buying a small desk, it means buying a desk that’s exactly as big as it needs to be to facilitate comfortable and efficient work. A minimalist desk should be simple in style and typically features just the one colour to cut down on the visual ‘busyness’ of the space. A classic white desk or black desk would be a particularly good option, as neutral colours are consistent with the minimalist colour scheme. However, you could also select a simple wood desk to add an elegant pop of colour to the room.
Of equal importance to the colour and style of your desk is what you choose to put on it. After all, minimalism is all about clean surfaces and simple designs, so clutter has no place here. Try to restrict yourself to useful items, including a:
Pen holder
Paperweight
Notepad
Desk mat
Device charging station
Table lamp
Desk organiser
To add a little colour and life to the room, you may also wish to place a potted plant on your desk. Potted plants aren’t just visually appealing, they’ve also been found to offer health benefits, and can even improve focus and productivity in the workplace. When choosing your plant, try to select a species that grows into a consistent, clean, and symmetrical shape such as a cactus, snake plants, or succulent.
A slow-growing plant is easier to look after and can cut down on care and maintenance requirements. Be sure to also put your plant in a simple pot that’s consistent with the minimalist style.
A Little Greenery Goes a Long Way
Minimalistic Office Accessories and Decorations
The simplicity of minimalism can help accentuate the few objects in your space, really letting them pop in their environment. The key to decorating in a minimalist style is finding a way to turn functional items into decorations. For example, a uniquely shaped lamp or pen holder can serve as the centrepiece of an office desk or open shelving unit – without becoming a distraction or impeding productivity.
Similarly, simple yet elegant ergonomic chairs can be as stylish as they are functional, particularly if they feature a unique design such as an angular shape that’s consistent with the minimalist style. Space saving furniture such as a built in shelving unit is another stylish option for eliminating clutter and maximising space utilisation while adding a unique stylistic element to the room.
Style with Purpose
Selecting a Colour Scheme for a Minimalist Office
Traditionally, a minimalist colour scheme utilises a lot of neutral colours such as black, white, and grey, but minimalism can also include muted tones and natural colours, including browns and greens.
In some cases, minimalism will also incorporate a single bold colour which contrasts beautifully with the otherwise neutral tones of the room. For example, a vibrant green chair can look incredibly striking in a neutral-coloured space with white ceilings and white walls. Alternatively, incorporating wood elements can offer greater connection to nature in a minimalist office.
A Traditional Minimalist Colour Scheme
Lighting in a Minimalist Office
A successful minimalist office is a well lit space that utilises natural lighting while supplementing illumination with artificial sources of light.
The kind of light emitted from a light bulb is known as ‘colour temperature’ which is measured in Kelvin. The lower the number, the warmer the light appears to be, while the higher the number, the cooler it is:
Warm light: 2700-3300K
Cool light: 3300-5300K
Daylight: 5300-6500K
As a general rule, warm yellow lights are your best option for creating a comfortable and relaxing environment, making them great for bedrooms and lounge rooms, but not quite as suitable for a minimalist office.
Blue or cool white lights, on the other hand, are better for working and concentration. In fact, researchers have found that exposure to blue white light during the day can offer a number of benefits, including stimulating the brain, boosting alertness, enhancing performance, and even improving sleep quality at night. Daylight bulbs, on the other hand, can be too harsh, uncomfortable, and sterile, making them less suited to the work environment.
Studies also widely report that exposure to a controlled level of natural sunlight offers a range of benefits, including better productivity, improved mood, and greater overall health.
A Simple Layout
Traditionally, the minimalist style incorporates a simple floor plan – often an open plan design or an agile office space design. However, this can lead to problems such as excess noise, lack of privacy, and limited space for specific activities such as private meetings and quiet work.
One clever way of working around these issues without sacrificing an open plan design is by installing glass walls instead of solid ones. Glass walls allow you to emulate the simple elegance of an open plan design while still offering dedicated private spaces during meetings and focus-heavy work.
Desk-mounted dividers can also be attached to desks, offering a little extra division and privacy without sacrificing an open plan design. You can even use wall mounted or freestanding partitions to temporarily divide up the space, while still retaining the ability to open it up again whenever you need. This gives you greater flexibility to adjust and customise your office whenever you like.
As noise and reverberation are a common problem for open plan designs, you’re best to incorporate more fabric surfaces into the room to absorb sound. Carpet, fabric chairs, sound-dampening partitions, and acoustics wall panels and ceiling tiles are all fabulous options for improving the acoustics in your office to minimise echoing.
A Minimalist Open Plan Office
Important Things to Remember When Creating a Minimalist Interior Design
Well there you have it! Some simple and handy hints for creating a minimalist design in your office. If you’re ready to get started designing your new office, here’s some quick modern office design ideas to inspire you.
Choose a simple colour scheme: Neutral colours and muted tones are standard for minimalist offices. However, you may wish to enhance a neutral-coloured space with a single bright colour to elevate your office design.
Functionality is key: Decorate with purpose by ensuring that most things in your office are useful.
Cut down on clutter: Throw out the things you don’t need and install a simple storage unit to hold the things you do need. Clean regularly to minimise mess.
Less is more: One or two ‘feature’ items can really pop in a minimalist space. Choosing an office centrepiece is a great way of adding a touch of elegance and visual interest to the room without cluttering it up.
Choose the right furniture: Elegant, clean lines and a simple design are best for minimalist office furniture.
Make it comfortable: Don’t compromise on comfort. Your furniture should be ergonomic, adjustable, and supportive.
Utilise natural light: A window onto the outside world can really brighten up a room and may even improve the mood and productivity of your staff.
Keep it cool: Cool white lights are a particularly good source of artificial light in the workplace.
Enhance the space with mirrors: Strategically placed mirrors can help a room seem bigger and brighter.
Decorate with minimalist art: Purchase art depicting solid areas of colour and simple shapes. Simple abstract art makes the perfect addition to a minimalist office.
Simplify your layout: An open plan design is popular in minimalist offices. If your employees are uncomfortable with an open plan style you can offer a little extra privacy with desk dividers, glass walls, or even movable partitions for temporary division.
The Wrap Up: Maximising a Minimalist Design
Combine Simplicity with Functionality
