Building Your Visual Corporate Culture - Step by step

Successful companies like Google or Apple understand the importance of building a corporate culture, and they go to great lengths to ensure that message translates into every aspect of their business. In today’s world it’s not enough to just develop your brand. It needs to be nourished and permeate all aspects of your business and corporate ideology. Establishing a visual corporate culture is a way to do this. In short, a visual corporate culture is a reflection of what your organization stands for and it becomes the silent voice of your business. It helps with attracting prospective employees and helps with employee morale. When you provide an exciting, energetic work environment that your staff enjoys spending time in, it can help to improve their performance each and every day. Here is a step-by-step outline of how you can develop your corporate culture and create an exciting workplace.

Step 1 - Determine the key areas to focus on:

Lobby / Reception / Waiting Areas-

The lobby or reception area is a great place to start. At a minimum your company should have a sign or graphic of your company logo. The sign or graphics should be professionally manufactured, substantial and permanently affixed. It is the first impression you will make to customers and prospective employees and a good first impression gives your business credibility and presence. Too often a company will overlook their entry / reception area and its importance. If your an established company, it’s also a great opportunity for a company history or timeline wall. Or if your a manufacturing business it can be a great way to showcase your products and or processes through the use of an encased exhibit or infographics. People love a story, and it’s a great way to highlight your products, services and legacy. Plus it gives your visitors something fun to do while they are in your waiting room vs. reading old magazines or look at their phones.

Open Office:

Today’s open office floor plan provides a lot of opportunities for innovative ways to promote your corporate culture. Open wall space, area dividers, columns, office windows and other prominent spaces can be used to highlight your company’s mission, vision and values. Core company values that are built into your environment helps share your vision and give everyone a sense of purpose in how to make that vision a reality. In addition to being fun and energetic, the use of color, shapes, and objects can be used in a variety of ways to reinforce your brand and make a statement.

Conference and Team Rooms:

Whatever you call it: conference room, meeting room, or collaboration room, they can be a great places to add to your visual corporate culture. Depending how the room is used branding, decor, and functional items such as dry-erase wall surfacing or magnetic receptive wall panels can be incorporated to not only reinforce your messaging, but also become a tools that become part of your presentation to clients or workgroups.

Break Rooms and Informal Spaces:

Your break room or informal space is one of the most powerful areas in your office. It’s not only a place in the office to get coffee or eat lunch, it’s the best place in the office to make your corporate culture thrive. To develop an effective company culture, people must be at the center. Break rooms are a natural area for items like a modular team board or a magnetic recognition wall to recognize associates and what the company does right. When people and their efforts are celebrated they will flourish.

Step 2 - Develop a plan with ideas, goals and a budget-

Developing a conscious plan with designs and a budget are essential to the process. Most people have a ideas or a vision of how they want their space to look, but may not be familiar with how to develop those ideas or how much interior specialties such as wall murals, dimensional signage and privacy films cost.

This is where the help of a professional environmental graphic design firm can be invaluable. A professional firm will be able to provide you with consulting, sketches, designs, renderings, material specifications and the project management needed to help you make your office space look the best it can while working within you budget. A good firm will also be able to sweat out all the minutiae involved with shop drawings, build specifications, permit allocation and installation details so that your project comes together seamlessly.

Step 3 - Fabrication and Production

Once you have finalized your plans its time to produce your branding and decor items. Various production methods such as vinyl plotting, large format printing, cnc routing, laser cutting and sublimation processes are combined with custom fabrication techniques to make your vision a reality. This is when it becomes important to have a team of skilled craftspeople involved who are intimately involved in your project and share your vision for making it a reality.

Step 4 - Delivery and Installation

Once production and fabrication is finished it will be time to have your custom items delivered and installed. Depending on your final plan and how handy you are some items may be shipped to you as RTI, Ready To Install. These items are carefully packed and shipped with easy to follow instructions for simple installation in your office. For more complex or specialized installations it is better to leave it to the professionals. A qualified installer will coordinate around your schedule and do the work when it is convenient for you. Often times this can be done on evenings or weekends so that the workday is not disturbed. The professional installer will also be familiar with the materials you have selected, have the correct tools and hardware on hand to ensure that proper installation methods are used for all facets of your project, in addition to making sure the work area is thoroughly cleaned on completion

I hope that you found this helpful and informative. If you are interested in discussing a project, finding out more about environmental graphics, or just looking for ways to build your brand please reach out to us.

Thanks

Marc