PRODUCTIVITY
The majority of hours that most of the working individuals spend are at their workplaces. The office becomes the second home. Hence, the workplace needs to be interesting and creative as not only that helps boost the energy of employees but also help them expand their imaginative domain. It makes them want to be in their workspace at the same time being more productive in that space.Colors, as psychologists say, and also as we learnt through our research, make a space lively and instrumental for individuals to bring out the most of their positive capacities. The presence of interactive artworks at workplace evokes the sense of intrigue, creativity, and engagement. Creative spaces lead to creative work. Not only that, the artworks at the workplace if placed and chosen thoughtfully, work as a tool to strengthen the interpersonal bonds between the employees. Presence of artworks or interesting sculptures also helps bridge the communication gap between the employees of different hierarchies, if there exists any. Artworks as an extension of corporate work life. The presence of artworks at workplace sparks the informal talks amongst colleagues. This helps them come up with new ideas as they are not bound under the formal pressures which henceforth open their horizons to come up with unusual solutions. When we talk about the arts in workplaces, it doesn’t only imply to bring in artists or some art-pieces. It means using arts as a business tool strategically and operationally. The colors and brush strokes have the power to change the mood from being stressed to being productive.According to a research done by Exeter University’s School of Psychology, the employees working in exalted spaces that are embellished with art or plants were 17% more productive as compared to those working in the regular typical workspaces. The study found that the majority of employees prefer creativity in their work milieu over humdrum cubicles. The survey, the alliance of the International Association for Professional Art Advisors and the Business Committee for the Arts researched all industries ranging from law firm to food distributors where the workplace exists. It concluded that with art in business it becomes easier to address and thereby improve the key issues such as encouragement of the expression of opinions (77% agreed), creativity (64% agreed), and stress reduction (78% agree).
BRAND IDENTITY
Art aims to represent not the outward appearance but the inward significance.
-Aristotle
Artworks also help to build brand images. Be it the small scale startups or the well-established giants in the market, every firm wants to stand out and be unique. But the brand identity doesn't only limit to the brand logo. American author and speaker Marty Neumeier defines brand identity as the outward expression of a brand, including its trademark, name, communications, and visual appearance. Now, the art pieces play a very important role in any brand's visual appearance. The kind of artworks a company chooses to display in its workspace, reveals a lot about the motive and ideologies of the brand.
The German investment bank, Deutsche Bank is one of the companies that has adopted this pattern. Possessing almost 60,000 artworks, Deutsche Bank has the biggest collection of corporate art pieces in across 900 offices that are present in 40 odd countries. The employees can even have the information about different artworks with the help of an interactive app that they have access to. There are even various talk shows by artists that the bank hosts.
Art is indeed something of an unnecessary necessity. This is the time to call out for new business models which has art to play a role in one way or the other. Investing in the artwork for workspaces is important as it comes back in the form of the more productive, efficient and happier workforce. This leads to the generation of more profits which is the ultimate goal of every business.
