Designing a post-pandemic studio culture
When we started designing an inspiring, supportive, collaborative work environment, we weren’t looking at what other people were doing. We had our experience working in office spaces, but we wanted to finally transcend it. When we chose the space for Studio Direction, we knew we had to first implement our known UX and UI design habits, and we had to be pragmatic about it. Additionally, we knew we had to examine them better if we wanted to go beyond the sheer productivity goals needed in our line of work.
At the end of the day, people are what really builds any organization
A successful web design studio doesn’t happen without great people. So when you’re designing a post-pandemic studio and hoping to nurture true artistry in its culture, start by setting people as your top priority. In our case, we wanted to attract a mishmash of personalities. Character diversity is a trait that is often not the most obvious one when it comes to crafting a great office culture. However, variety is incremental to creating a dynamic, stimulating environment. When hiring, pick and choose your employees not as individuals, but as a team where variance is the key.
Have you ever heard the saying variety is the spice of life?
Well, it couldn’t be truer when it comes to design! And your designers need an environment in which their right side of the brain can roam free, yet stay challenged. What better way to keep those brains inquisitive and motivated to solve problems than by driving them to communicate and collaborate with a range of contrasting personalities? Managing a mix of characters is also great practice for any CEO, manager, or HR specialist. Different people bring their own mix of skills to the table, which can only help your UX design business grow. You could go even further and give everyone a chance to influence their workspace. After all, it’s a proven fact that the work environment directly affects motivation and inspiration in employees.
Designing a home away from home in a post-pandemic studio
What better way to achieve this than by listening to the very people who will be designing in it? Let people decide what they need, and what is practical for them. An inventive team is created when a mix of good people with different characters feel at home in their studio. Designers will combine forces to work towards an innovative goal when their coworkers are interesting (which we covered in the previous section). Also, the greater goal of your design studio is more achievable when the surroundings are inspiring. Therefore, you should leave the designing of post-pandemic studio culture to the very people who are an integral part of that culture.
We’ll just leave this here:
We do consider our company a home away from home, which is what any intelligently designed office space should offer. Again, variety and flexibility are key here. Always set the goal of creating several kinds of spaces that will allow your team to perform an assortment of activities. In our case, this includes an open space area where the main brainstorming happens, a cozy conference room for our more official meetings, and we even have a recording studio where we used to record our innovative project, called ChairTalks:
Design a post-pandemic studio, but make it homey!
Last but not least, now that we’ve given you a quick little tour of our studio, it’s finally time for coffee! Yep, coffee is an official bullet on our list — after all, every mother ship needs some type of fuel, doesn’t it?
Maybe a good cup of morning black goes without saying for you. But we take revamping our post-apocalyptic studio culture seriously, and we cannot get to work without a double shot of our finest espresso!
Can a head-on, edgy team of UX, UI, web, and graphic designers and their playground, in other words, their office, even function without good coffee? Data can say whatever it wants about the questionable health benefits of caffeine, here at Studio Direction it is what revs our engines in the morning!
Here in Serbia, 85% of people drink 1–2 cups of black coffee every day.
“The function of design is letting design function” | Micha Commeren, designer
As you can see, when creating a UX design epic studio, you have to take into account the expressive, experimental, and original nature of a design studio. Nonetheless, one that follows global confusion.
For us, designing a post-pandemic studio culture revolved around support, communication, and comfort. Additionally, we wanted to keep the conversation going, and what better way to do it than by assembling so many different personalities in one place.
From the serious leader trope to the office jester and an art director who thinks everything is funny. We have a quiet problem-solver, a designer who is always hungry, and a loud, out-of-the-box thinker. We also have a Head of Operations, who always has everything under her control and knows how to keep us all in check.
Because of our team, some days feel like the quiet before the perfect storm, while others are full-on fashion shows. But mostly, we’re just having some serious UI/UX, graphic/motion web designing fun.
After all, that’s how you earn awards!
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou, author, poet, civil rights activist
