In a week when we’ve seen the news getting preoccupied with pink paint, we’ve been thinking about how it works as an office colour. Championship football club Norwich City have, it transpires, taken the opportunity over the Summer break to schedule a redecoration of their away dressing room. And they’ve done so with the colour pink. As colour theory goes, the idea is that pink decor contributes to a lowering of the opponents’ testosterone levels and gives the home side a marginal gain.
Does it actually make a difference? Who knows. Two things are certain though, colour means different things to different people and Norwich lost to West Brom 4-3.
The Pink Jersey
Is pink, then, an inherently unsporty colour? Or an unsuccessful colour? Well, you only have to look to cycling to see that it should not be seen that way. The Giro d’Italia sits alongside the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España as one of three most gruelling and prestigious competitions in the sporting calendar. The race leader wears a pink jersey (originally chosen because of the pink paper on which the race’s creator, newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport was printed). In this instance, the colour pink certainly has no detrimental effect on strength and power.
Nostalgia
So could football’s association of the colour pink with sporting inferiority highlight underlying misogyny in the sport? This is actually nothing to do with whether pink is deemed a ‘girly’ colour. According to colour theory, pink tones inspire childhood memories and nostalgia. It is this which is said to reduce testosterone levels. However, it’s a fair leap from this theory to believing the colour suppresses sporting performance. The same is true of professional productivity. Areas of an office space can really benefit from the comfort and repose that feelings of nostalgia inspire.
Comfort
So, could it be true that comfort, far from compromising performance, enables a more natural, successful and collaborative team? Whether the team is one of football or one of business. The restful and contented environment created by pink tones of office colour can build a familial atmosphere. Surely this is a great thing for teams and communication. Used correctly, use of pink tones in an office can aid decision making and logical thinking.
Concepts
Of course like any colour, pink decoration should be used considerately and form part of a coordinated design scheme. There are aspects of lighting and furnishing to consider. This is another benefit of pink: it is really a rather flexible colour that works well within a wide palette.
Office Skills
For corporate spaces, pink is on the up. Last year saw the completion of the critically acclaimed ‘R7’ building in London’s King’s Cross. From the aluminium facade and flooring to light fittings and balustrades, it is a showcase in deep, dusty pink. The office colour is intended to inspire campus style collaborative working and creativity. Its popularity in the commercial world has made this a modern and popular colour for corporate offices. Quite the opposite to how the colour has been intended in the dressing room saga!
It’s clearly still a silly season in the world of news, but we welcome the opportunity to discuss pink. At HL Decorating we can see the benefits of all colours and believe that they all have their benefits. Indeed we never like to see any office colour portrayed in an inferior light.
So we think the most important thing about this story is the wise decision to use a Summer season break to organise an office redecoration. It’s a habit that should be encouraged to maintain any heavily used working area, whether that’s a dressing room or meeting room. Now that really shows some nous!
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