Innovative Office Designs to Make Your Workday More Bearable

As I sit here on a sunny summer morning, writing about cool office designs from the comfort of my cube, I am reminded how thankful I am to not work in a drab, soul-sucking, grey and beige cube farm like the one above. In our office, we've managed to make a room full of cubes that gives everyone their own personal space while still looking open and modern. Beech wood walls keep things bright, while silver slat walls with sheer dividers provide privacy, but still let in plenty of natural light from the large windows that line one wall. As you've seen in our previous posts, Zen and the Art of Ergonomic Workspaces: Jeff’s Cubicle and It’s Geek Pride Day! Here’s How We Get Our Geek On at the HS Office!, we're all encouraged to let our personalities shine through with our cube decor.

More and more top companies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google are moving to a fun approach when it comes to office design. The Glassdoor blog has compiled a list of 10 Cool Office Spaces, featuring some neat stuff like a twisty slide that can be used instead of stairs, a bowling alley, swings, and a video game room. (My plan is to ask for a trampoline room and maybe even a ball pit so we can be on that list next year.)

Fun workplaces make happy employees, and happier people make better companies! If you're not ready to install swings in the office, you can take a cue from others in that list and get bright, stylish furniture instead. We have a great selection of ergonomic chairs that come in colors that will brighten up any workspace. Steelcase and Humanscale are two designers that wouldn't be out of place in any of these offices, and can be spotted in some of the photos if you look closely. (One of the few occupational hazards of working for an ergonomic furniture store is that you end up becoming a "chair nerd" who pays particular attention to office furniture in the backgrounds of photos and movie scenes, and gets overly excited when you see something that you recognize.)

I've also seen some interesting office setups in all of the entries that I've received to our Win a Free Steelcase Office Makeover from Human Solution! contest. This contest ends on Friday, June 28, so get your entries in now!

We can't get you a twisty slide, but you can find plenty of fun, fresh furniture at TheHumanSolution.com.