Interior design

Tips and Tricks on How to Make a Small Office Look Bigger

March 2, 2023

It's no secret that the majority of companies begin in teeny, tiny office spaces. Even technology giant Apple began in a modest garage in the California suburbs.

However, although some small firms struggle in limited spaces, others succeed by making the most of what's available.

If you’ve been working in a small office, you don’t have to compromise your style. In fact, you can create a functional small office design that is productive, flexible and contributes to employees' well-being. These tips and tricks can get you started, or at least give you an insight into the latest office design trend.

1. Separate into Zones

Firstly, you need to consider the way your team works in your office. Are all their tasks completed in the same space? Do you have an area where you only do computer work, then you have an additional workstation that helps with completing something else? This is a perfect time to add work zones that break up the monotony of always being in one specific place and utilising every part of the space.

You need zones for everything — including the copier, conference area, and other spaces needed for a functional office. This leads to a great office design that enhances efficiency and productivity. Flip-down desks in different areas of the office can help employees, who need to concentrate on what they are doing, can benefit from this versatility.

In each zone, one or two flip-down desks along the walls can maximise the office space. Having spaces that aren’t labelled but zoned together for like minds helps get things done. These zones should support the flow of the design, allowing for transitions between low and high activity. This can help improve efficiency and productivity.

2. Get Flexible

Your space can have multi-purpose functions without compromising your needs. For instance, an open plan in a human-based office can make space look a lot bigger than they really are. This adds space that would have ordinarily been taken up by walls.

In this space, you can create a collaborative situation where zoning will come in handy. You can have desks in a certain area, then a meeting room that can become something else when needed. The trick is to not limit yourself to what an area must be, but rather think of various ways you can use the space.

In a small office, there may not be enough space to do what you want, but you can use practicality as a baseline for the design. Make sure the office furniture serves several purposes. For instance, you should consider using a large table and chairs for a conference room rather than a traditional setting.

Whitepaper: Where Design Meets Acoustics

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Another idea would be to have a series of small desks that can be broken out for training, then pushed back together for a meeting. This ensures there is no wasted space, and the furniture accommodates a variety of needs.

3. Make Storage Smart

Small offices are already bursting at the seams, so the design idea that incorporates storage is of the essence. Although many offices store files in the cloud, there are always things to store and file.

The solutions should also be flexible enough to accommodate multi-purpose needs. Storage walls that also house fold-out tables, or have additional seating are perfect in creating spaces for people to work from. This is practical but blends into the décor for a smart solution.

4. Add Colour

Colour helps design shine but also has the power to influence our well-being. The Colours of Well-being helps inspire wellness and creative thinking in office spaces to promote productivity, cohesion, and stability. There are four pallets of colours:

Uncluttered Wabi-Sabi

This celebrates imperfection and is very prominent in Japan. Light greys, beiges, and browns are the colours chosen to capture the beauty of uncertainty.

Biophilic Awareness

This colour palette incorporates stone, plants, natural light, stone, and water into the interior design, using blues, greens, and the colours of nature. For organisations that love calm, green spaces, this colour palette works well.

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Calm Enclosure

This palette promotes vibrancy with colours of rich red and warm yellow. The colours are not overstated but can blend well with a variety of furniture and décor. These colours are also designed to uplift and energise.

Technology

These colours support futuristic designs with clean darks and silver, and chromatic blue. They work well with glossy and matte surfaces while embracing hard and soft materials.

Rockfon® Hub: Office Layout Matters

Capturing your needs while infusing wants is crucial in small spaces. From the types of furniture chosen to the colour selection, they all work together to create the ideal space. Using biophilia awareness within the design helps bring the outdoors inside. Organic materials used throughout the design create calming environments that enhance the work environment.

Making the most of underused spaces, like creating private meeting spaces from closets within the office environment and knowing what you can do with the space, invites opportunities to be creative. Moveable desks and tables that also double as storage or other functions help keep the office organised while using spaces and accessories for many purposes.

Rockfon Hub Brochure

Create multipurpose spaces and flexible zones where people can think, talk or work in peace.

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Small offices can take advantage of the Rockfon® Hub. This multipurpose solution creates acoustically optimised areas where people can meet in private or work independently when they need to get away from the open space. These acoustic zones or hubs can be fitted with lighting and curtains to reinforce privacy. As an integrated solution, it can be moved from one place to another without hassle.

Re-evaluating the office design is key, starting with how the office operates. You won’t know how things should be fashioned if you don’t know what goes on from day to day. Walk through the office on a busy day and a slow day observing how things flow, where things are the most active, which employees are frustrated because of their areas, and other things to determine what you can improve and where.

Some businesses don’t need a reception desk but do need areas to collaborate. Focusing on how productive your team can become when the right layout is in place is important.

Making a Statement with Rockfon® Canva

If your office needs great acoustics, Rockfon Canva acoustic artwork and panels make a definitive statement on the design aesthetic. The palette of 34 colours supporting the panels helps build the perception of the company with the mood, function, or brand. These wall panels are also customisable with unlimited design freedom.

With floor screens, wall panels, or hanging dividers, there is no limit to designing a small office with elegance and class. Rockfon Canva is modular with detachable canvases so you can have as many canvases as you want to refresh the look from time to time.

Rockfon Canva Brochure

Provide a powerful statement and brilliant acoustics in one single design element.

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Use the Entire Space

Every inch of the office space should be used. There are corners and nooks in office spaces that are often forgotten. You should be creative in changing these areas into usable space. It can be as simple as having a small library of business books the staff frequently needs in a corner or fashioning a multi-purpose break area in a small nook. Little things like this not only add to the aesthetic of the office but help build a strong company culture and employee morale.

Seating should be strategic. Who needs to work together or sit in close proximity? Who handles sensitive information where they need privacy? Do you really need a conference room, and how often?

Is this a space that can be designed for multiple uses? Can you use whiteboards on wheels? Can certain panels of the wall have spaces to write on? Can the whiteboard become part of the wall décor?

Changing the way things have been done comes with a different mindset. Small business office design should move past traditional layouts, opting for comfort and functionality instead. Small offices can be just as productive as large, successful ones when the right design and tools are in place.

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