Building A Company Culture Using Graphic Design to Create a Closer Work Community

CommPRO Editorial Staff

Company culture is becoming an integral part of business strategies in countries such as the USA, where a particular group of workers want more than just a regular salary. Research shows that a large number of the ‘Millennials’ of today are willing to earn less if they feel a sense of community within the workplace. For today’s businesses, it is an interesting concept because it means that companies can retain employees for the long term, get more value from their employees, and reduce the costly expenses involved with having a high turnover.

Graphic Design Is Playing a Role in Building Company Culture

Now you can imagine a factory floor covered in oil, boxes sprawled everywhere, or a warehouse with mould, holes in the hanger, or an office building that is slowly falling apart. Then think of the phrase, a ‘tidy desk is a tidy mind’. This same concept applies to the workplace. In other words, a tidy workplace also creates a tidy mine. It is for this reason many businesses looking to enhance their company culture are starting with their employees’ surroundings.

One way to enhance what is around employees is graphic design. A graphic design portfolio for what is known as EDG (experimental design graphics), is used to give businesses ideas of how they can use large-scale graphics to influence people’s mood and behaviour to orientate them towards a more positive mindset. And a positive mindset is what helps to build a positive company culture.

With clean, bright, upbeat, and even luxury graphics and décor in the office space to match, it is possible to do what most brands do like Red Bull or Apple, which is to create/sell a way of life. Red Bull is for those that are exciting, they have a wild side, take risks, and live life to the max. Apple users are tech geeks, wealthy, innovative, techy, high hopes, dreams, and aspirations. It is not just the product that does this, but also the graphic design used in advertisements by these brands which also use EDG.

Ten Examples of EDG in action:

1. Branding (stationary to advertising)
2. Mission Statements
3. Words Of Wisdom
4. Eye-Pleasing Designs
5. Scenery Using Murals
6. Elevator Wraps
7. Window & Floor Graphics
8. Wall Designs/Wallpaper
9. Company Intranet Design/social media
10. Internal documentations/Newsletters

Millennials Have Different Goals to Other Demographics

Millennials currently make up for the highest volume of the USA's workforce, and the same can be said for many European countries. It is also this demographic in which most no longer feel life is all about work. Instead, this generation works so they can live life to the max. Life experiences, happiness, meaningful relationships, and stress-free living trump a high salary for a growing number of these millennials.

And to achieve many of these goals, having a job with excellent work/social balances within the workplace is far more important than grinding for a higher salary. According to a report on company culture by Speedpro, employees are willing to take a $7,600 pay cut to work in a place in which the company culture aligns with their values.

EDG Used for Branding to Create a Positive Company Culture

Some great examples of using branded graphic designs include placing the company logo on walls, at the entrance to the building, on stationary, and even using frosting designs to place the logo on windows looking outside, glass office doors, and partitions. Timelines are another great graphic to use. Employees can see when the company began, milestones it has achieved (like ‘Open Paris branch 2021’ or ‘First Asian based office 2022’), and where the company is heading for the future – all this with any changes is company branding, name, or logo design.

Employee Testimonials

Another great graphic to use around the company is employed testimonials. This could be a short thank you from an employee after the company helped that person, statements from the employee of the month or employee of the year, and statements from those that shine in their department. This type of positivity using EDG helps to build positivity, trust, and a sense of harmony.

Summarizing EDG, Company Culture, and the Future of Today’s Workplaces

For EDG to work, your human resources team should head the project. It is HR’s job to connect different departments, and this also means having a company structure in place. All this helps the company to create a good reputation, a pleasant work culture, and keep employees well informed. Without this in place, EDG tactics like branding will not work. You want your employees to respect and be proud of the company logo when they see it. Creating a positive company culture is vital to keep the trendsetters for the future happy, which is the Millennials.

A happy, clean, fun, and vibrant workplace means the business gets value from happy employees, and as the business grows, so does the job satisfaction of the employees. Learn how to create job satisfaction via our Tips for Building Employee Engagement article, which is vital to creating a positive company culture.