I just completed a consultation with a commercial client, Vortex, that needed paint colors and carpet selected for its corporate facility and computer training center.

The owner, Catherine Bristol, had recently purchased this company and wanted to “freshen up”
the facilities.
This corporate facility includes numerous computer training rooms, business offices, and even an internet café.

Her clients come to this center for training a certification in information technology. They may spend one day taking an Excellence in Technical Customer Service class or a five day course in Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity. She leases space for other trainers to come in and has a 65 person meeting room. Needless to say, many people come through her doors on a daily basis. This “freshening up” was a perfect opportunity to brand her interior spaces with her printed, graphic identity by creating a cohesive look.

Branding is not a new concept
The American Heritage Dictionary states that it is “A trademark or distinctive name identifying a product or a manufacturer.” This is just the tip of the iceberg. You have an opportunity to brand your message, product or services with your interior design as well. Sometimes the first contact with a client is a business card, website or brochure.
This is the first opportunity to start creating a brand in the client’s mind.

It will happen on an unconscious level
They read through your website and unconsciously take in colors, logos and wording.
Now imagine that client coming to your office, and it looks nothing like the color branding you have created with your graphic identity. Your business card and website are done in greens and blues and your offices are burgundy and black. This would instantly create a disconnect in the client’s mind.
They may not realize it on a conscious level, but it is still in their mind. You have just missed a huge opportunity to continue your brand. You will be sending a message to your client that you do not focus on the details.


You will elicit a positive emotional response
Now imagine that same client viewing your graphics package, done in intense blues and greens with a dark copper logo, arriving at your offices for the first time. As they enter the lobby, they view complementary blues and greens tastefully creating a reception area. The walls are a soft green, while the furniture is upholstered in patterned blue and green fabric. You have a rich wood reception desk with copper accents and your logo tastefully displayed on the wall behind. You have just created a cohesive branding package. This will say to the client that your company is professional, stylish, thoughtful and completely together as a business. You will elicit a positive emotional response in the brain of that client. Who do you think will refer your company more, a client that feels you are not organized or a client that knows your company pays attention to all of the details? It is not hard for me to know who you will give you more referrals.

When I met at Vortex with the owner, she was concerned at first when I started talking about using her graphic identity colors for her interiors. Her graphics package is designed with intense, fully pigmented blues, greens and browns. She was envisioning a space painted in teal, turquoise and brown. That palette would be just a bit too bright for a corporate, computer training facility.
I had to let her know quickly that that was not what I was going to do. I was going to take her graphic identity as a jumping off point.
I subdued the tones in blues and greens for the lobby, offices and hallways.

The training rooms already had one wall painted in a strong, blue, purple or green. Each room had only one of those colors with gray as the other three walls. These accent colors work well because the occupants of the rooms will typically be in there most of the day, staring at a computer screen.
It is nice to have a pop of color to create visual interest. I selected a creamy white to go on the other walls to replace the gray it is currently painted. Gray can tend to get a touch cold and not be terribly inviting if it is a cool gray.

Show all of your clients that you pay attention to the details
Once we completed the color selection, Catherine was quite pleased with the colors and completely understood the importance of blending the corporate identity package with her interior design. She will now have cohesive branding that starts with the business cards and goes straight through to her training facility and corporate offices.
This is an easy and fantastic way to show all of your clients that you pay attention to the details. Businesses that make cohesive branding a priority from a business card all the way through to their interior design are going to be the businesses that can see their clients through from beginning to end. It is important to connect with the client on an unconscious, emotional level.

At Lynle Ellis Designs we align corporations with their interior surroundings so that they have a cohesive brand.