How to decorate a shared game development office?
November 13, 2019 7:12 AM   Subscribe

I'm involved with starting a shared office for game developers in Zurich. Right now we have a drab-looking 60sqm room with white walls and grey carpet, tables, and chairs. How do I make this look like an inviting place to work in?

There's also an ugly beige windowsill and a set of lockers, and light is provided by (decent) fluorescent tubes from above. So the question is: what do I put on the walls? Do I add more, softer lighting options? Do I decorate or number the lockers? Add a lot of plants? Washi tape? A 9' decorative statue of an orc? A tasteful selection of damaged soviet-era machine tools? Putti?

I don't want it to look like a totally generic office, or super-corporate, or dudebro gamer-y. So gaming posters would be an option, but ones that actually look nice? I haven't had much luck finding such a thing.

I have a budget of about $1000 and 2 weeks.

Hope me, people with taste and ideas about interior design?
posted by Zarkonnen to Home & Garden (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I once came in as interim exec director of a company that was housed in a room that I think was a former storage closet. No kidding. A friend and I overhauled it in the week between Christmas and New Year's, and (happily) the employees, when they returned, couldn't actually believe it was the same space. It went from a depressing Dickensian dump to a decent(ish) place to work.

I think lighting will be your #1 priority (I would say seating but I'm hoping/assuming your chairs are all right.) Even the best fluorescent lights wear on you after a while. In my old space, we used a mix of direct task lighting, and some indirect (floor lamps pointed at the walls to bounce the light around.) You mention a windowsill -- I hope that means a window. Is there a view of something?

I had a similar grey-ish cave. We chose to paint one wall a deep soothing blue. It brought some color to the space but wasn't an aggressive color. If you're going to be in there for long hours, you want color and texture variation enough to engage the eye, but nothing so busy/loud that it fatigues your eye.

Those are broad strokes. For details (I like that orc statue...) it depends on the personalities involved, I think. For instance, if lockers are going to be decorated, let the locker users do it, I'd say.
posted by profreader at 7:28 AM on November 13, 2019 [1 favorite]


I would paint it a medium warm gray, possibly a different gray on each wall. Maybe paint one wall navy blue (jinx, profreader). I love deep colors in a big space. You can get a paint that makes any wall a good surface for erasable markers; use that in a very wide band around most of the whole space, and put up small ledges with erasable markers and erasers. I'd encourage people to doodle on this.

Fluorescent/ overhead lights kind of suck, and really give a space that generic office vibe. Get a bunch of floor lamps at IKEA, a few for ambient light, and a bunch that can be used for task lighting or as uplights.

Ask the people who use the space to bring in posters. Put up some corkboards or a long cork strip/ bulletin bar so people can bring in event flyers or post cartoons, etc.

Lots of people like plants, so a couple of large plants will help with the windowsill. Get some non-rolling fairly comfortable office chairs to put near the window for hanging out chatting. Make sure there's a space for making coffee and tea, a microwave to warm food, a fridge. Post the rules in 1 spot, large and clear, and avoid lots of signs with rules.
posted by theora55 at 7:37 AM on November 13, 2019


Hilariously the office that I work in has one dark navy wall ( the back wall ) and the rest of the walls are painted a soft, light gray. We also have these grid things on the wall which allows us to hang stuff with clips, which feels less permanent than if we we were putting it directly on the wall, and adds some depth to the wall, which is nice. One person is the main curator, but in general we rotate stuff out on the wall so it stays fresh.
posted by Medieval Maven at 7:45 AM on November 13, 2019 [1 favorite]


My migraines are triggered by overhead fluorescent lighting, and I'm not alone in that. In the last place I worked, in our small department of 6-7, another person also had the same issue, so blessedly we were able to keep those nasty lights off. We did have floor to ceiling windows on two sides, and we were also each issued a desk lamp for late afternoons in winter and grey days.

So, improving the lighting would be my biggest goal if I were you. Even people who don't get headaches from overhead fluorescence tend not to like it.

$1000 isn't a lot, but if you could swing it, I would also create at least one nook that is more private. A cubicle type area with high walls would suffice. This would be respectful to the introverts on your team who will be greatly taxed by the open office plan (hello!). And it will be a beacon for those who need to have conversations without bothering everyone else. Or just need to concentrate and focus for a while without distraction.

I personally would value those improvements infinitely more than a neato wall color.
posted by nirblegee at 12:38 PM on November 13, 2019


For posters, maybe something in the style of Steve Thomas or similarly-inspired vintage sci-fi? You can try searching for "retro gaming" or "vintage travel" styles. There's a lot of affordable variety on redbubble or allposters, and decent plain frames can be had for cheap.

If you're allowed to paint the walls, consider making stencils out of painting tape to add accent shapes! Circles or lines can be simple and pleasant. One game lab I worked in had stylized Pac-Man and Asteroid shapes painted in a slightly lighter colour than the surrounding paint, and the effect was subtle and charming without being distracting.
posted by halation at 12:39 PM on November 13, 2019


Smaller area rugs to divide up the space, ie a sitting area with a couple arm chairs and a coffee table. Can you get stuff secondhand?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:08 PM on November 13, 2019


I'm not sure what's already been covered before your $1k, but here's what were priorities for our dev teams-

Lighting. Ideal lighting can vastly differ between engineers vs artists, so allow a solution with individual adjustment. Glare/reflection from windows can be a problem, so have good blinds if needed.

Noise. Find a way to separate quiet spaces to work from spaces to meet.

Comfort. Allow flexible and individual workspaces as much as you can. Monitor placement, standing v sitting, etc.

Consider how you're going to play your builds together.

People cared a lot about what was in the kitchen. A broken coffee machine was a crisis.

Plants are awesome, but they need to be cared for.

Gamers typically have their personal swag to decorate their own spaces. The only communal art or orcs around was stuff from our own titles ( and often repurposed from our PR campaigns).

Large whiteboards all over.

I know a lot of this is outside your remit and budget, but as nirblegee mentioned, basic work needs ( can I see, work in peace, not bust my back or wrist, etc) are priorities before wall color.
posted by spandex at 4:07 AM on November 14, 2019


Response by poster: Thank you all. I don't know if we can usefully subdivide the office, but there *are* separate meeting rooms available people can use.

I'm also looking into sound absorbing foam (Basotect) to prevent echoes in the office space. Main question is whether I can hang things from the ceiling.

There's also a separate break room, but it's shared with other offices and I think it was furnished in 1971 or something. So we'll see how much coffee/snack type stuff we'll want in our own space.

We do have windows, blinds, decent office chairs, and a sofa corner. :)

So my plan now is: Buy a bunch of floor lamps from IKEA for diffuse lighting. Get like 3 sci fi travel posters so the walls don't start out empty. Figure out where I can add sound absorbing foam. (The foam is cheap, but the moment you buy products made from the foam, it gets expensive.) Get a few more (hardy) plants. Paint a wall or part of a wall in a nice colour.
posted by Zarkonnen at 5:06 AM on November 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


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