Every day when I walk down the street and look up to the buildings into people’s window, I am often amazed by how nicely decorated their apartments are. And there are times when you are appreciating the superb interior design, as you walk past the residential building and come to an office building, your eyes are offended all of a sudden; by the creepy looking office space. What is ruined is the peace of mind and the warm and cozy feeling instilled in your head by the beautifully decorated apartment you saw a second ago. You are stuck with images of dull white light in your head on the rest of your way home. Then there is the question: If you spend almost as much time at your office as you do at home, why don’t you make your office feels like your home?

Google understands the relationship between interior design and productivity and it takes a very unconventional approach to design their offices.

Minimalism with high quality has always been Google’s style, and such idea is shown throughout their offices. Google’s interior design approach does not overwhelm one’s eyes with way too many bold colors. It also uses fun furniture - like massage chairs and pool tables to make the workplace more fun and more like home for its employees.

There are three things that deem the most importance to create a homier office.

Lighting. Good lighting will help to increase productivity. If an office is too dark, it might put your employees to sleep especially when there are computers or other devices that strain human eyes around. In contract, too much light will cause glare on screens and cause discomfort. How much light an office needs depends on the kind of work the office does and also the age of its employees. To make your office feel more like home – not your bedroom, the lighting used in a café or a restaurant would be a good attempt.

Space Usage. It is okay to have a lot of things in your cubicle or in your office, you just need to organize it. Use colorful filing supplies can help to keep your mind entertained. Unless you are going for a retro or a cyber home, use the homier wooden bookcases instead of plastic or steel ones. Plan your space and target to reduce unnecessary motion.

Plants. Plants are great – both artificial plants and real ones. Not only do plants help to relax your eye muscles, real plants also consume excessive carbon dioxide to keep your concentration at a high level. According to a recent study, employees react quicker and are more focus when plants are added to an office. If someone has an allergy, use artificial plants instead. Artificial plants are low-maintenance and have a longer life span. It is also easier to craft your interior design with artificial plants because they will not change in shape and size.

Also, research on how colors can affect the human mind before deciding your theme colors. For example, orange, yellow and red are colors that can potentially increase our appetite, if you cannot endure the potential long-lasting hunger, then maybe you should not use too much of those colors to decorate your office. ■

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Lacie has a habit to come up with innovative designs for its products that may or may not appeal to some, such as the 2001 monolith-like hardrive, the flower vase hub, or the boat air vent speakers. This time around, they are releasing a usb flash drive that looks like a coin.  The USB 2.0 drive is even constructed out of metal so it’s going to feel like a coin, too.

Two sizes are available with the 4GB sporting a bronze exterior while the larger 8GB has silver digs. Thankfully, they start out at $19.99 for the 4GB which isn’t that much to lose if you accidentally drop one into a your Starbucks Tip Jar.

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Last time I check, our mother earth is sick. Ever since the movie – An Inconvenient Truth came out in 2006, the term ‘Global Warming’ has drawn a lot of attention. ‘Pro-green’ activists groups are being formed all over the country, rather, all over the world. While the first Smart car first greeted the American public in 2008, President-elect Barack Obama promised to introduce a million plug-in hybrid cars to the America by 2015. On the other side of the globe, the Chinese, Japanese and Korean governments are experimenting with the use of solar panels – and are preparing to bring such technology to the public at an affordable price. Pro-green advertisements are everywhere on the web and the same applications and widgets(such as Green Office by shoplet.com) can be found all over the place in the world of social networks such as Myspace and Facebook. It seems like the world has came to realize the meaning and the importance of ‘Going Green’. Most of us probably spend most of our time in our office during the week, so what can you do to make your office a greener place?

Here are a few tips:

Lights: LED and Compact Fluorescent
Although LED lights bulbs are slightly more expensive, they consume much less energy which, at the end of the day, not only are you saving energy for the world, you are also saving yourself some money from your electric bill. If LEDs are not an option, consider compact fluorescent lights. They use ¼ of the energy used by regular lights and can last up to 10 times longer.

Digitize
In this digital age, a lot of the printed materials in an office are only being used a few times. Think twice and evaluate the necessity before printing. If you were to just print an article and read it once before you toss it away, why not keep it in your computer and read it on-screen? Also, If your job requires you to face the computer screen most of the time, wouldn’t it be more convenient to take notes using light-weight software like notepad instead of using paper. At least you are not tiring your neck by lifting your head every other second.

Pack Your Lunch
Not only are you eating healthier when you pack your own lunch, you are also helping to save the world by not using those packaging made by toxic material that is difficult for mother earth to ‘digest’.

Bring a Mug
Instead of using plastic bottles for your drinks in the office, bring your own mug. You will be saving the use of a lot of plastic.

Recycle: Paper; Bottles; Cans
Try to recycle as much as possible. Things like paper, bottles and cans can be recycled and SHOULD BE recycled. If there is a recycling bin sitting around the corner, treat it like a recycling bin rather than a trash can. Encourage your company to adopt recycling. If there are documents that are inevitable to be printed or bottles that are inevitable to be used, go ahead, but please remember to recycle.

Computers: Laptop. Energy Saver. Shut It Down.
Use a laptop instead of a desktop if possible as laptop consumes close to 10 time less energy than a desktop. There is also less packaging that comes with a laptop than a desktop, and because of a smaller size, it means less space is needed during transportation thus less transportation is used. If using a desktop cannot be avoided, optimize your energy consumption by turning on the energy saving option on your computer. Finally, if you are not using a computer, a printer or any other devices, shut them off.

The Printing Habit: Go Both Ways
We all know that: yes, we can avoid printing as much as we can, but there is absolutely no way to not print anything in an office. Try to use both sides of the paper when printing. Use eco-friendly ink such as soy based ink. ■

Green Office by shoplet.com
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