Coworking space isn’t supposed to be filled with all those deep violet and plastic modular furniture. Maybe you are out here trying to build your empire, hitting your deadlines or maybe even trying to enjoy your work a little but how do you ensure any of that when your office is a soul sucking beige wasteland.? It is like there is no vibe, no energy, fluorescent lighting and all the furniture felt like it was intended to be in a failed startup. Not in my book.
This is about to change, as today I will give 15 game changing design ideas that will certainly make your office from corporate prison to a space where people actually WANT to work in. And if you’re feeling overwhelmed? Seek out the interior design companies in Abu Dhabi and inform them that you need your workspace to communicate to everyone: “I am successful.” Let’s do this.
Top 15 contemporary design ideas
1. Lighting Plan
Image source: wework.com
We have a problem if I walk into an office and the lighting makes me look as if I just crawled out of a horror movie. Fluorescent lighting is unflattering and outdated. There’s no one I can think of, and I mean zero, who genuinely thrives under that black hole buzz. Ask yourself why you ever made that life choice.
So, what I need here is warm LED strips, soft pendant lights perhaps even a neon sign with some chaotic energy. The right lighting should easily help you to set the vibe (and should not make you feel like you’re in a DMV waiting room). Speaking of fluorescent, it makes your sleep disturbed. So, just replace your lights before I lose my patience.
2. Comfort Zone office
Image source: woodenstreet.com
Why do so many offices act like comfort is the enemy? You can expect me to sit in a stiff, backbreaking chair for eight or ten hours, and expect me to pay for my chiropractor. It is not gonna happen. People actually do a lot more when they can move around. That includes comfy lounge chairs, sofas with bean bags.
Yes, I said a bean bag. If you wouldn’t sit in one with a coffee in hand and a looming deadline, you’re still missing out. It’s 2025, offices must stop treating employees with old chairs which makes productivity suffer. Let people be more comfortable.
3. Nature based office
Image source: evolution-design
If an office has zero plants, I assume it’s haunted. Why should I take the chance in a workspace that looks just like a sterile hospital where I could be thriving in an urban jungle of fiddle leaf figs, hanging plants and monsters. Fake plants also exist, so no worries if you can’t keep real ones alive so just don’t let anyone touch them and ruin the illusion you created.
Seriously, but plants make people happier and make cleaner air, and also make the whole place look better. If you don’t want to be having to stare at dull Gray walls all day for every moment of your workday and have less and less will to live, why not add some greenery.
4. The Soundproof Pods
Image source: framery.com
I alone have worked in some office design and I see only people still do their personal calls on speakerphones. Always. And honestly? Sometimes, I lose my patience and I’m just two seconds away from launching that phone out the window.
Open plan offices were cute for just five minutes, before everybody realised, constant noise is literally hell. For peace and quiet, try to consider soundproof pods, noise-cancelling panels, or even a designated quiet zone. Otherwise, you should not be surprised when somebody actually get fired.
5. Vibrant Color Psychology
Image source: stockcake.com
Beige offices feel lifeless. Who decided that sad, washed-out colours boost productivity? For focus, I need deep greens, calm vibes come with rich blues, mustard yellow to wake me up and who the hell knows what burnt orange would do to get me fired up and push all my energy into work. Having a personality goes beyond ‘but beige is neutral. Choose a vibrant colour that they don’t want to sleep with their eyes open.
6. Mini Café Corners
Image source:blog.google
If your office’s ‘snack situation’ consists of stale granola bars and random leftover candy, you’re still doing it wrong. I want options. A mini fridge full of cold brew, oat milk, and maybe a sneaky energy drink for the desperate moments. A coffee setup I don’t question my life choices over. People work better when they aren’t starving, and that requires actual, edible snacks. If I’m not fed properly, I will stage a riot.
7 . Separate zoom call room
Image source:hushoffice.com
If I have to sit through one more Zoom call with a depressing white wall or a cluttered mess in the background, I might just leave on principle. Your background should say something about you. Some good placement of a bookshelf, a panel wall that is sleek, maybe even an artsy neon sign that people will mistake for you having your life more together than meets the eye.
Just anything but not that sad, unintentional “prison cell” aesthetic. Bonus points if you actually provide them with a designated video call space so that people can keep their cameras on without having to claim their camera is broken to cover what’s behind them.
8. Charging slots everywhere
Image source: onepointech.com
It’s 2025, and I’m still fighting for outlets like it’s Black Friday at Best Buy. I simply cannot fathom the amount of rage that I experience when my laptop is at 2% and have to go on a full on scavenger hunt for a working plug. In case of designing a coworking space, place power sources everywhere.
Wireless charging pads that actually work, built in desk chargers, USB outlets in sofas which means I shouldn’t have to beg for power like a Victorian street urchin. What tech should do with me, and what tech should not do with me.
9. Flex Desks
Image source: steelcase.com
Some days, I just want to sit at a desk. Other days, I don’t. Other days, I want to sink into a huge chair and pretend the world doesn’t exist while I work.’ And guess what? I should be able to do both. All offices make us sit in the same damn spot every day, like they’re copying Schoolday, a dystopian classroom? Give me options.
When I need to feed my need to be productive, I find being at a standing desk works for me. Weather Gossip or collaboration and communal tables when I wanna. To provide solo workstations for the days when I need everyone to leave me alone. The workspaces should be more flexible, not like punishment. Detention vibes aren’t something I need while I attempt to pay my bills.
10. Pinterest like Wall
Image source: stockcake.com
Blank walls make me more uncomfortable as I can’t stare at them all day. Up until this point of the project, we require an interactive wall which is a giant corkboard, blackboard, or those massive whiteboard things that people can throw up their ideas to draw on, or even stick with passive aggressive notes.
Of course, calling out someone for stealing oat milk is also a part of collaboration. In my belief, spontaneous creativity leads to the best ideas, and nothing inspires it like a wall filled with chaotic energy.
11. Change office chair
Image source: businessinsider.com
If I walk into an office and see all those tragic, worn-out black mesh chairs, I’d rather sit on the floor. If the wheels are broken, there are no armrests, and the cushion feels like sitting on concrete, just count me out. Comfort doesn’t have to mean ugly and impractical. I want the chair to look good, but at the same time I also want mostly flat back relief after eight or ten hours of work. Is that too much to ask?
12. Expensive fragnance
Image source: hermoney.com
If your office reeks of burnt coffee and microwaved fish, fix it before I report it to HR. Trust me, scent matters. I want the aroma of citrus generated through diffusers to help keep my energy up; lavender to fool myself that I have inner peace; and scents like vanilla to make me believe I am rich. At least let me pretend this office is a high-class hotel lobby. There is no “smell of productivity” if the “smell” is stale air and regret.
13. A Break Room
Image source: euphoriainteriors.com
Too many break rooms feel like waiting areas are for bad news. Crusty microwave, sad chairs, and a soda machine with nothing but expired granola bars. We just deserve better. The break room shouldn’t be a sad corner where people try ignoring each other and fake-rest.
Give me more cool furniture, a slightly worn foosball table, and also a record player with questionable music, and I will be impressed. On Fridays, try to throw in a happy hour station and as you know we will all check out by 3 PM mentally. If people want to take breaks they should do it in more style.
14. Separate Personal Space
Image source: steelcase.com
So why is it so damn hard to know the channels of communication and where to keep hush? You find yourself in some offices that have no boundaries. In some cases you’re trying to focus and someone next to you is having a full volume argument on where to go for brunch.
It’s full chaos as clearly marked zones are lifesavers. This is also a great choice for one to have quiet areas to get the work done, brainstorming areas for throwing ideas around or social areas where people can just chat without getting side-eyed. Anyone who’s been in a silent zone knows the gut-wrenching horror of accidentally talking.
15. No tagline arts
Image source: abstracthouse.com
If I see another ‘Live, Laugh, Work’ poster in my office, I swear I might just set it on fire. I do not think that art in the office should be an insult to my intelligence. People put big motivational posters who think they can’t give what employees deserve so they give motivation instead.
I would prefer local artwork, funky posters, and even something weird abstract that makes you question reality. If, for instance, I walk in and see a big framed stock photo of a mountain and below it, again the word ‘Success’ then I’m LEAVING. Walls should have personality, not resemble a dentist’s waiting room.
Final thoughts
Work is hard enough as you don’t need your office to feel like a prison cell. A beautiful coworking space is also an important part, of course, but a well-designed one is far more than ‘looking good’. It’s all about making this place that will increase your creativity, keep you on your feet, and prevent you from wanting to throw your laptop out of the window.
If your office is still soulless and uninspiring, it’s time for an upgrade. Whatever you do, you suffer no more than necessary in all those bad designs. In any case you need help, you can visit the top interior design companies in Dubai and ask them to create an office to make Mondays bearable. Your space should work for you, as you are the one working hard.
