How are the offices of the future be like?
All started with a curiosity: in this digitalized and dynamic world, where many things have been changing, such as workplaces and traditional offices, how would these spaces develop in 10, 20 or 30 years?
We carried out a study to be able to go in-depth on the topic, knowing the user’s points of view and exploring the “spaces in transit” (or dynamic spaces in constant movement) that exist nowadays.
As part of this research, we consulted different sources of information and through various interviews, we came up with 5 different types of users, which we define in the “persona”tool.
These were the 5 user typologies that we identified:
Each type of user has their own needs, challenges, and motivations in terms of workspaces, but we summarize the trends we discover in the following groups:
1. Noisy atmosphere vs silent atmosphere:
Flexible work and digital spaces (also called “liquid” spaces) generally have a louder atmosphere than traditional or analog spaces. This is because it allows the interaction of many people, but it also encourages group collaboration among workers, by having everything interconnected and stored in the “cloud”.
On the other hand, traditional offices (also known as “solid” spaces), have a framework that generates a quieter atmosphere, because it is structured and designed principally to work, which makes it difficult to have networking between people.
In the case of coworking, these are spaces where the user can find the perfect balance between having a quiet place, but also a noisy work atmosphere because they have spaces designed especially to socialize too.
2. Comfortable spaces vs effective spaces:
The “spaces in transit” are characterized by being open, dynamic and collaborative, in which the place is not delimited and where interaction and conversation between people are encouraged. But, there are two types of spaces: those that provide comfort such as coffee shops, stations and airports, and those that provide resources (good connection, rooms, and others) like coworking spaces.
On the contrary, the offices are restricted and delimited areas that provide many resources to work, but not always to get comfort and convenience to relax.
An intermediate point would be the work-coffees, because those places combine the warmth and comfort of the home, with the efficiency and resources of the offices.
3. Workspaces vs work and leisure spaces:
The “spaces in transit”, such as coffee shops, stations, airports, work-coffees, transform the concept of work and join it to leisure, since they are more flexible and allow users to interact with others, lean for a moment or disconnect from work while having a cup of coffee.
Otherwise, in offices, it is usually more difficult to find spaces to rest, to unblock or to encourage conversation with more workers (feeling of leisure).
An example of these “spaces in transit” that adapts to the needs of users, that are comfortable but also effective, that are designed to generate conversation between people is the Forthink furniture:
Would you like to change your workspace for a more dynamic one? Learn more about Forthink here.
Published at 27/08/2019
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Design Thinking
It is a method for generating innovative ideas that focuses its effectiveness on understanding and providing solutions to the real needs of users. It comes from the way product designers work. Hence its name, which literally translates as "Design Thinking", although we prefer to translate it as "The way designers think". It is, in short, a change of perspective from designing FOR people to designing WITH people.
Lean Startup
It is a working method that aims to increase the chances of success when a project comes out of the paper and begins to be realized, eliminating everything useless and inadequate. The idea is to adapt the product to what the market demands and not to our own vision, which is the best way to launch something new. To do this, we must focus on the customer's needs, relying on their feedback to modify the product until the final version is developed.
Agile UX
It is a set of methodologies for developing projects that require speed and flexibility to adapt to changing industry or market conditions, leveraging those changes to provide a competitive advantage. The main characteristic of the principles and values underlying agile methodologies is to be able to deliver quickly and continuously. In other words, the project is "sliced" into small chunks to be completed and delivered in a few weeks. In this way, if a change is needed, it is made only in the part involved and in a short period of time.
