Trends vs Research – How we Shape the Future of Work
Are trends or research more important in workplace design?
By Angela Ferguson
If you are anything like us, you’ve probably seen numerous articles written about ‘trends’ for the year ahead, particularly in the area of workplace strategy and interior design. Sometimes these trends are sensational, headline grabbing and controversial. Sometimes they are just ‘meh’. And so often I will delve deeper into these trends or predictions, hoping for some juicy new insight into the future, only to find that these aren’t really new trends at all – just existing ones wrapped up in fancy new words.
Predicting the future is the holy grail of workplace strategy and design, yet it is also innately embedded in what we do as workplace designers. Workplace design is about creating a future space, for people to inhabit at some point in the months or years ahead, within an environment designed to accommodate anticipated behaviours and workstyles.
So how does a workplace designer create the future? Is it about following trends or is it about conducting research? The short answer is ‘its complicated’ - trends and research both play a critical role in designing the workplace of the future.
(Note: when I refer to ‘trends’ I mean a strategic or philosophical vision for the future … and not colour or style predictions)
TRENDS
Trends in workplace design are important – they are a litmus test for the proposed workplace experience. Trends are opinion, or prediction, based on observation of the world around us combined with intuition. Trends can be an ideal to work towards but also something that can help us reflect and measure progress.
For example, in 2016, at Futurespace we were talking about the ‘uberisation’ of space having an impact on workplace design. Leading businesses we were consulting to at the time were considering how a CBD located workplace could be supported by co-working environments, ‘hub and spoke’ offices and other third spaces that were closer to employee’s homes. The uberisation of space was about paying for what you need in terms of corporate real estate, and providing both relief and an alternative workplace to overpopulated, dense CBD offices.
In 2021 however, after the COVID-19 global pandemic, many corporate offices sit underutilized as significant, unheard of percentages of workforces are still predominantly working from home. Working from Home (WFH) en masse was sudden and universal. By many accounts it has been an overwhelmingly successful global experiment, demonstrating that Working from Home is here to stay for many organisations and their people, in some capacity at least.
As a designer I find trends a really useful tool for creativity. Developing trends is also incredibly inspiring - because their creation comes out of all the things I love to do - reading, travelling, learning, observing and unpacking what is happening in the world around me.
Trends on their own however, are not that useful. When it comes to strategizing and designing workplaces they are a forecast forward, a glimpse into the future that can only become a reality when combined with robust research.
RESEARCH
Research differs from ‘trend’ in that research is a look into the past. Whereas trends are generalized, high level and future focused – research is specific and detailed and involves the collection of evidence in order to extrapolate a future. Additionally, research always starts without a predetermined outcome; it is a process of both discovery and analysis.
As a workplace strategist and designer, the research I do is grounded in ‘real life’. It is about talking to people, listening to their stories and experiences and really understanding what is happening for them on a daily basis when it comes to how, where, why and when they work.
This focus on people - what works well for them at work, as well as what are they struggling with –plays a huge role in influencing how and what the team at Futurespace recommends, then designs for corporate communities.
Our research is undertaken in a variety of ways including:
Prototypying; whether that is furniture or desking or setting up an area of the future workplace for occupants to test and trial
Surveys and Questionnaires; these are a great way to benchmark across industries and sectors
Interviews; especially face to face so that all the nuances of body language and tone can be appreciated
Observation; done with neutrality in order to simply record and collect useful data and insights
Case studies and exemplar projects; to provoke discourse, debate and conversation
Research into an organisation and its people helps identify the opportunities to be considered when creating the future workplace, as well as to mitigate any risks identified during the process. Research also provides insight and knowledge for business leaders so that key property and workplace decisions can be made with certainty.
If I go back to the question asked at the beginning of this article Are trends or research more important in workplace design? hopefully the answer has become clear – that both are equally as important as each other. In any workplace strategy or design, trends and research need to marry together in order to create what is ultimately the best, bespoke solution for an organisation and its people.