"Calling Elvis, is anybody home?"*

When was the last time you actually had a conversation with someone? Face to face, or on the phone? I don't seem to remember when this has happened to me last, but it seems that in the rush of life, we've stopped talking, and started communicating through text messaging of any kind, emoticons, and links to the latest TED Talk, but I miss listening to peoples voices. The warmth of the tone of voice is lost, which we try to make up for using silly emojis. 

Some may argue that with these communications tools the revival of the lost art of writing has come back, but has it? A few months ago I had the pleasure of listening to Israeli typographer Oded Ezer, at MassArt, in Boston. Ezer had provocatively stated that text is dead, and we are headed to a place where people will end up communicating with images, photos, and videos. I have to admit this kind of freaks me out. I love text, I use it to help me think, I use it in my design work. Text, is a powerful tool of communication, but so is the lost art of talking to each other, interrupting each other, yelling, and whispering a lovely good night. We lose the ability to be compassionate when we don't hear the tone of voice. 

In the past I have wrote about how the challenges of an open space concept in an office environment created this muted existence within the space. But the actual silence is misleading as there is a lot of online and virtual chatter. I'm not against online or virtual communication, I like using social media, and acknowledge its value (as I tell my 6 year old son, not everything needs to be said out loud). I just wonder what this does to the culture of a company, the casual "water cooler" conversation where people would physically move from their desks, and seek out other people to exchange some ideas, have real eye contact, measure and learn peoples expressions, and interact with the whole complex package of what we call human beings. Office spaces are losing these interaction spaces not only because of the price per SQFT, but also because they are not used as much. We need these interaction spaces, people forget to look up from the screen and just say hello.  

What does it do to our society as a whole, how much disconnect is created through these seemingly amazing tools of communications, how have we become these machine like responders to beeps and vibrations?
How our articulate kids are losing the ability to carry a non scripted conversation. 
I think we need to call Elvis... 

*Lyrics by Dire Straits

All Work and lots of Play

During my graduation ceremony way back then, our class speaker, diligently taped crayons to the bottom of each and every seat, it was an apt reminder from where we all started.
Designers like to play, our whole world resembles a blown up pre-school classroom. We experiment with color, light, shapes, texture, but unlike the carefree kids with fingernails clogged by green play-dough, proof of concept lies on our shoulders.

Play, the new hot word in the design world, is a very intricate tool. As boundaries of work-home environments are blurred and redrawn, the in-between becomes a vital regulator that assists in balancing the two. We all know, and research shows that people who have a more balanced work-life world are usually more productive at their jobs. I've been around the high-tech start-up community long enough to know that research is nice, but not always easy to attain. Some like the big high-tech companies in California, will even go as far as adding a huge slide to connect between two levels (though I've heard the noise made them close it off). In areas where the weather is consistently good there will be a hiking trail near by, in the north-east this option is good for maybe 2-4 months out of the year. The challenge is always to create a "play" zone without it being disruptive, too juvenile, and consistent. Because structured play is extremely important for creative processes, and office culture.

Along the years I've learned that most places I think of as the "right" off site, breakout zones in the office program, usually become last on the priority list of company leaders. This is usually due to budget and space constraints, and/or lack of will to create these seemingly money and time wasting spaces. I used to worry a lot about these spaces, I mean after all I'm a professional player (ahem..designer). I'd cry over the lost lime colored bean bags, that will never make it to the right spot. But then something interesting happened, some spots got filled with junk - yes. But others got organically filled by the people who work there. Old school video games popped up, an old sofa picked up from a curb made it in instead of the lime green bean bags. Some even took away the custom made tables from the kitchen to create a totally new off site area in the middle of the open space. A natural playground was born, a new and unique office culture has been cultivated through the lack of over designing "play". I guess designers are not the only ones who like to play with space, allowing other people to join in the fun of experimenting with space is a powerful tool, kind of like rediscovering how to use crayons again.  

Design as a Universal Language

At one of my first reviews at MassArt  the first comment I got was, why did I pin-up my process the wrong way. You see I'm a native Hebrew speaker, I write from right to left, my starting point is the end of your process - or is it? My mother tongue is English so right away I knew what my reviewer had meant, and it made me smile.

I came to think about that review after listening this week to a great talk by Oded Ezer . Aside from the mind blowing approach to typography, what was intriguing to me was the fact many of the examples Ezer brought were in Hebrew. At first, this was unsettling to me, the instinct being to try and translate it to the Americans in the audience. But once that feeling subsided what I came to realize was how amazing it was that we as humans can communicate through design regardless of what language we speak. If you ever picked up a design magazine in a foreign language, you'd still get the gist of it.

Design works with some of the most basic, and universal foundations, balance, color, light, texture. It is a powerful tool that at the wrong hands can be used to oppress people, as it was used in countries under the communist regime. And yet achieving the right mix of these elements require a process of trail and error, a conversation of sorts between these elements.

Photo credit // Emily Neumann 

When something clicks in a space we "get it" feel happy and good. When something is wrong we feel uncomfortable and irritable (messy rooms are a good example). We owe it to ourselves to get better design around us, so we can become free of the visual assaults that create so much negative "noise" in spaces we use all the time.

Designers are translators of these basic elements into the world. Though universal the language of design is intricate, and like any other language requires rigorous practice. I doubt that you would solely trust business correspondence to Google translate, there is no reason why your office or home design be left at the hands of people without the proper language skills.

Open

The open space office concept, though seems to have a modern sounding flair to it, has been around from many years. The first open spaces in modern times have been the factory floors during the industrial revolution.

photo credit 48 photography by Udi Edni 

Many things have changed since, and open spaces have become safer and more employee oriented. Yet things are far from being perfect in these spaces.

Recently the BBC  created a series about the open space concept in the work place. As we are at the midst (start?) of a technological revolution, it's time to rethink the open space concept, and free ourselves from the design paradigms that are damaging the work environment. Especially in the USA where the average open space employee suffers the harshest conditions in the western world. Office spaces in large US cities come at a premium, many companies want the best 'bang for their buck' options, overlooking the fact that employee wellbeing and happiness can hamper productivity . Many open spaces are so poorly planned they reflect badly on the brand of the company and the corporate identity. There are some, what I would call, cosmetic solutions (note not all cheap); there is the"pink noise" solution, some tall plants , or beautiful and costly furnishing options. None of them really touching upon some the core issues of the open space.

Having too much of an open space can generate an awkward silence, where one dare not even whisper to a co-worker for the fear of interrupting others, thus forever keeping THAT great idea with-in one's head. I'm not even going into the whole flu season issues, and how uncomfortable it would be to come to work with a stuffy nose. The lack of privacy creates for socially odd behaviors, sitting with bulky sound proof headphones for a good 8 hours is one I can think of.

photo credit Emily Neumann

Yet not all is evil in the world of the open space office, it allows for flexiblity, which can accommodate changing needs of a company. It breaks the molds of company hierarchy (that is if there are no corner offices to covet), that can allow for a free exchange of ideas. It's cheaper to have an open space office than costly and space guzzling build-outs. There are many initiatives of community open spaces, one can walks in and plugs into an open and free environment. I still fondly remember the open studios of the 10th floor at MassArt, where creativity literally was rolling on the floor. There are places like a news desk that would not function without an open space concept.

Open spaces need to be adapted to the need of the company, they can't be 'copy-pasted', they need to be flexible enough to allow different working styles, they must have some 'escape' zones where one feels free to huddle over a cup of coffee with a co-worker with out being shushed into shame.

When planning on getting your new office space a new shift in <cost of sqft per employee> has to be made to accommodate for these added spaces within the open space. A perfect example of creating such zones are city parks, and centers.