For over a year now, my colleague Glen and I have incorporated a low light setting in our office by turning off the bright florescent lights and using lamps for ambient light around the room. There is ample research about the use of lights to improve one’s working environment from physical mood to productivity.

Another coworker, who was experiencing severe migraines, was told by her doctor to reduce some of the florescent lights in her office, and her condition improved quickly. Working on a computer all day long can cause a lot of strain on the eyes and with bright lighting this issue is exacerbated.

It’s pretty funny people’s reaction to our office setting, many call it the “zen office” or the “chi zone,” either way we have had fun getting creative with the lights in an office that has no natural lighting. 

Yesterday we took our office lighting to a whole new creativity level after I read a very interesting article from 99u.com called the “The Perfect Workspace (According to Science).” The article covers the following:

• Best choice for furniture design – rounded tends to be better
• Enhanced lighting – blue/green = creativity, and new ideas; red = better attention to details on tasks 
• Bring the green – get some plants in the office (that’s why I love my bamboo plant so much)
• Don’t stress the mess – a messy desk isn’t all that bad, and can in fact lead to more creativity

I know your dying to know how we improved our lighting. Well, we took blue and red (haven’t found any green yet) cellophane and placed in the florescent light panels. We removed several bulbs from the other panels, and so the overall light isn’t overwhelming giving our office a cool retro ambience.

I feel fortunate to work in place that allows us to be creative with our workspace, and according to 99u.com “The simple act of making your own decisions about how to organize your workspace has an empowering effect and has been linked with improved productivity.” Whether that’s true or not, it’s still fun to make your space your own.

Be creative.

Here’s Glen soaking up the creative energy of red and blue: