Designer File - Nicola Osborn
Nicola Osborn, design director at MoreySmith, studied printed textiles and decorative arts and worked as a visual merchandiser before completing an interior design diploma. She shares 10 things she’s learned about design.
Words by Pamela Buxton
1 You have to find your own way. I realise now that we're institutionalised from the day we start school to the day we leave university. I was quite lost at the end of my degree and had a very long journey, more than seven years, before I arrived in interior design. First I worked with lots of other alumni in art studios, in fashion textile design and then moved into visual merchandising with Gap. I really enjoyed creating lovely environments for people to shop in. That's when I started to think about getting involved in interior design, after all that rich experience. I'd had a creative itch and found the solution in interior design.
2 Workplace design is such a melting pot of ideas. Initially I thought I'd be drawn to retail design due to my experience. When I arrived at MoreySmith [in 2004], I realised that workplace design has so many layers to it, from understanding the client's business, to making the brand culture intrinsic to the environment and crucially, using design to look after that individual person coming to work everyday. Then there's the wow factor too, the individuality of the brand, building up the layers of interest with materials, colour, and working with different artists. I really enjoy getting to know the client and understanding their aspirations for the space. To be able to make a difference by creating a space that people want to go to when they get up in the morning is an incredibly positive thing to be involved in.
3 Workplace interiors are a hot-bed of competition. Following the explosion in growth of tech city, long-established companies are really thinking about how their workplaces can attract fresh talent and retain staff, which is brilliant for us as designers.
Nicola Osborn, Design Director at MoreySmith.Portrait by Johnny Tucker
Technology now allows people to work remotely. The workplace now translates as trains, coffee shops and it's recognised that people are productive in different environments. Therefore companies want to replicate ambient, buzzy and homely spaces into their own offices. They particularly want workplaces that encourage collaboration, which is something we've been doing for years.
4 Designing workplaces is all about meeting human needs. It's about providing different spaces for people to occupy and be the best they can be - office functionality is a given. The key is to find the right balance between the varied working environments, giving people the choice. The workplace currently promotes having break-out spaces within more traditional spaces. Workplace design could easily shift towards a more informal, general space with people choosing if they want to use more traditional spaces. Not every workplace culture is buzzy - the design has to be right for the specific workplace and you have to tap into their business aspirations first. It isn't a formula that you can just roll out - I hate to see half-hearted solutions. That's just missed opportunity and a waste of money.
5 People are territorial. They want somewhere to go to when they arrive for work. The hot-desking concept has had negative connotations and we try to steer conversations away from it. At Red Bull's offices we designed team tables with eight places for teams of 10, including an admin and a guest position. This worked well because there were always people who weren't in the office. In the offices we designed for Coca-Cola everyone has their own desk, but the variety of working environments encourages people to relocate throughout the office.
For Coca-Cola Osborn's team provided colourful bench facilities in the canteen area.
6 Workplaces are becoming more dense. Traditionally the ratio of person to space has been 10 sq m but now clients want 8 sq m because there's more fluidity about where and how people work. At Vizeum we reduced desk space but provided a massive front-of-house area with shared break-out spaces and informal meeting areas that took up a quarter of the office. It was a massive change and staff didn't take to it overnight. But after a few months they were really embracing it.
7 Areas in the workplace where you can have real face-time will become more important. I think there will be a rebellion against constant texting, emailing and phoning. Building relationships is really important in business and you can't always do that via email. You need human interaction - technology can only take us so far. That's why collaborative spaces are so important. But they will only be successful if companies lead from the top in how they use them. You also need to balance open-plan environments with more private spaces such as phone booths where you can Skype or FaceTime.
Osborn likes creating spaces that people look forward to going to - Arup at Fitzroy Street, London
8 Outside working space will be like gold dust. People will need more respite and time for headspace in the future. Outdoor spaces will become as important as interior ones. We recently provided a 370 sq m roof garden for Coca-Cola to where people can go for quiet and contemplation.
9 Respect people's strengths. As much as we all have a passion for all sorts of design, you can't be a master of everything. It's very important to listen to people from other disciplines and pull in their expertise by collaborating. We work with a lot of artists, graphic designers and specialist makers, such as Simon Harcourt for example, who knows everything there is to know about leather and does a lot of bespoke leather walls for us.
10 Be that maverick. I love working on a project where a client really wants to push my team to do something different through the design of their workplace, and then works with us to make it happen. The client enables the design and the design supports the client - it's two-way traffic.
