The best colours for your home office
Colours play a huge role in most of our lives and although we may not notice it throughout our daily activities, they can affect many aspects of our being. This includes energy, mood, concentration, pleasure, comfort, productivity to name a few. Doctor Robert Gerard pioneered research, which suggests that every colour has a specific wavelength, and each of these affect our body and brain in a different way.
There are so many external and internal distractions at home. It is therefore important to have colours in your home office that provide the most positive environment for focusing and getting your work completed, whilst giving a sense of calm and wellbeing.
Using the right colour, and the correct selection and placement can seriously affect feelings, attention, and behaviour. Obviously, there are many configurations for a home office setup, and it may not be practical to repaint a whole room. If painting a room or space is not a feasible option, there are many other ways to include the colours best suited to your needs. This can include something as small as a bracelet or postcard on the desk to a canvas or coloured desk.
Below is a selection of the 3 colours green, orange and blue. Each have different qualities they bring to your home office space, so enjoy reading about each one and deciding which colour pallets best suit your needs.
Green
Green is an excellent colour for improving concentration. Low wavelength colours such as green also promote restfulness and calm. Now, you obviously don’t want to be too restful on the job but being in a calm state also improves efficiency and focus.
Some studies have shown that people who work in green offices have higher rates of job satisfaction. A study, led by Doctor Kate Lee, examined 150 university students. She gave the group a boring, monotonous task that dragged their attention span to a breaking point, pressing a series of numbers over and over as they read off a computer screen. The students were told not to press keys when the number three appeared on the screen. Then break time came, and in a 40-second window half of the group viewed a green roof, while the others looked out onto a bare concrete roof. The research showed that students who looked at the green view made fewer errors and had overall better concentration. Doctor Lee hypothesises that the green roof provided a ‘restorative experience’ which helped boost the mental resources of the students involved in the study (1).
Adding a restorative green screen, a forest scene, or a small green canvas on your desk could provide a moment of revitalisation for you if you are struggling to concentrate.
Here are some green office items that will help create this environment for your home office.
Green desk mat (waterproof)
Buy on Amazon UK.
Lime green desk caddy
Buy on Amazon UK.
Artificial green plant
Buy on Amazon UK.
Green canvas art
Buy on Amazon UK.
Orange
According to ancient Feng Shui principles, orange is a "yang" colour and it will stimulate focus, concentration and promote organisation. This makes it the perfect shade for a home office. However, it is not just the colour that matters, but how bright it is. “What defines whether a colour is stimulating, or soothing is not the colour, it’s the intensity. A strong bright colour will stimulate, and a colour with low saturation will soothe,” Angela Wright, a colour psychologist said. So, if you are hoping to get your work done quickly, go bold! (2)
Orange is generally quite a bright colour so if you have your home office in your bedroom, it may be better to include green or blue instead of orange, as you don’t want to be too over stimulated when it is bedtime! If you do want to include some orange in a room you primarily want as calming, you can use accessories such as an orange bracelet, a small canvas that can be turned around after work finishes or a throw on your chair that can be put away when it is slumber time!
You can also use orange in different way to help alertness and concentration……orange juice!
A glass of orange juice in the morning can improve alertness and concentration over the course of the day, according to new research from the University of Reading.
The study saw a group of 24 healthy males aged 30-65 drink a flavonoid rich orange juice or a control drink on two separate days. On each day, the participants were randomly allocated to consume either the orange juice or the control drink. Cognitive testing before drink consumption, and two and six hours after, were then carried out.
‘Response speed' in the study group was significantly improved at two and six hours post drink. Their ‘attention' was also enhanced after six hours while the control group became less ‘alert' throughout the day compared to the study group (3)
Here are some examples of orange accessories you can use to get that energy and focus going.
Real orange tree
Buy on Amazon UK.
Artificial orange plant
Buy on Amazon UK.
Orange desk mat
Buy on Amazon UK.
Orange desk caddy
Buy on Amazon UK.
Blue
Blue is often associated with calming environments such as the seaside, sky, rivers and open spaces. This may not sound like a colour to use to help concentration and work, however, blue encourages us to think outside the box and be creative. It can therefore help with specific tasks such as brainstorming and creating new products.
Ravi Mehta and Rui Zhu from the University of British Columbia found that blue tones encourage people to explore and try new things, whilst boosts creative thinking. These influences come through in tasks as simple as solving anagrams and memorising words and as complex and realistic as creating a child’s toy (4).
Dark blue desk mat
Buy on Amazon UK.
Light blue organise boxes
Buy on Amazon UK.
Dark blue mouse mat
Buy on Amazon UK.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed reading about how green, orange and blue can be used in your home office. Whether you are painting a whole room or using smaller items to include the colour/ colours you feel drawn to, hopefully they will help your concentration, focus, creativity and energy for a successful home office setup.
References
- Seeing green boosts your concentration, research shows. May 25, 2015. http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/seeing-green-boosts-your-concentration-research-shows-20150525-gh8udh.html
- Best color for concentration is orange. 2017. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/best-color-concentration_n_3949427
- GLASS OF OJ A DAY BOOSTS ALERTNESS AND CONCENTRATION. 2015. https://www.reading.ac.uk/news-archive/press-releases/pr646274.html
- Ravi Mehta, Rui (Juliet) Zhu (2009) Blue or Red? Exploring the Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performances. Science.Vol. 323, Issue 5918, pp. 1226-1229