Research Design Connection: Supporting Creative Employees

Hoff and Oberg interviewed office-working digital artists to learn more about how they believe the physical work environment can support their creative work. The researchers found that “The physical work environment was considered to offer three types of support for creative work for the participants: functional, psychosocial and inspirational. Creative processes would find better breeding ground if functional support, such as adequate lighting and tools, and psychosocial support, such as spatial possibilities for both privacy and communication, were provided. Without inspirational support, such as brainstorming rooms, dynamic planning and imaginative interior design, the work outcome was believed to become less creative.”

Eva Hoff and Natalie Oberg. 2015. “The Role of the Physical Work Environment for Creative Employees – A Case Study of Digital Artists.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 26, no. 14, pp. 1889-1906.

Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.