If you're fashionable, you probably already know about color blocking. The basic idea of color blocking is to use blocks of "bold strokes, primary hues, vivid neons, and pretty pastels".
I'm ultra-fashionable (joke), so naturally I had no idea what it was until my wife explained it to me. Afterhearing the description and looking at a few images of the style in fashion, I started noticing that I was seeing it somewhere other than clothes.
Color blocking is actually pretty fashionable in offices as well, especially in European offices. And apparently some buildings have jumped in on the craze.
To be precise, there is a difference between "color blocking" and simply "using color" in an office design. Most offices use color to liven up their designs, for instance, by painting an accent wall or using accent furniture, but it is altogether something else to color block.
Normal use of color:
vs. Color blocking:
While the second image clearly uses "blocks of color", the colors all seem to work together to make a really interesting and appealing look, while the first image uses only one color to add a bit of life to an area.
Martha Stewart knows what's up – she recently gave 19 tips for color blocking in your home, which I think we can use to effectively color block an office. Here are a couple highlights, followed by a few ideas from the gallery of color blocked images below:
- Use bookshelf shelves as blocks of color as they are already in blocks
- Use a trio of hued pillows as color blocks on the couches in your office
- Use colored cabinets as blocks in your office cafe
- Use complementary colors on your furniture's fabric – or use complementary colors for different seating in the same room.
- Carpeting is begging to be color blocked using the awesome tiled options from FLOR
- Paint your old, boring accent walls using blocks of colors to liven it up
Here are some more examples of Color Blocking in offices:
