White walls in a room might feel crisp and clean, like a blank slate, but if they’re in your workplace, it’s time to repaint. Colour not only affects a person’s mood, but it can also hinder a worker’s effectiveness.
White doesn’t help us be productive, and most work environments are white, off-white, or grey, who suggests the sterile quality isn’t conducive to work. Aqua, however, is a good choice.
Colours can elicit a variety of emotions, affecting the mood and output of your staff. Here are some common paint-colour choices and what you need to know to use them properly:
Red for the detail-oriented. A powerful colour, red stimulates the pulse and can raise blood pressure. A found that red can help increase performance in employees who have detail-oriented assignments.
Blue For Creative Types. Blue is calming. It promotes communication, trust, and efficiency. It also helps people with creativity by opening the mind to new ideas. In the workplace, blue would be a good colour in a room that is used for brainstorming, suggests the UBC study.
Don’t Paint Conference rooms yellow. The colour of optimism, yellow is stimulating. Too much of it, however, can cause anxiety, and studies show that people are more likely to lose their temper in yellow rooms, which might make it a bad choice for conference rooms.
Green for Inspiring Innovation. Similar to blue, green is a calming colour that promotes harmony and balance. It also can enhance creative performance. Green would be a good choice in an office where innovation is a key component.
Avoid grey To Keep Morale Up. While grey is psychologically neutral, the colour also lacks energy. It is suppressive and prepares people for hibernation. Heavy use of grey can foster a lack of confidence and even depression. This colour should be used in small amounts in an office and offset by a brighter colour, such as red or yellow.
But you should probably paint over the white walls just in case.