Aare you opening a new office?  How about receiving a promotion which comes with your own office space?  Do you have a cubicle which you can decorate and personalize?  How about your home office?  You’ll need to choose fine art for your work space or office at some point.  How do you know what to choose?  Today, we’ve got answers for you.

Ground Rules

We need to set some discussion ground rules for the office or home office.  While this is your space, it’s also not your space.  You greet customers/clients and conduct business in this space.  People will see you in this space.  This fact remains true even in home offices with virtual commuting.  Your office is not about you.  It’s about making your clients and customers comfortable enough to conduct business with you.

You do not display anything edgy or risqué unless that is what you are representing or selling as a company.  The office is the place to select conservative and non-confrontational fine art while still injecting some of your personality into the space.  With this set of expectations in place, we can proceed with our discussion.

An Example

As I sat down to write this article, I found myself at a loss for words.  That is until I started defining things a bit more specifically.  I’m going to use an example of the entertainment industry (movies) to illustrate the points I want to make.

I’ll preface this with say that movie posters are inappropriate office decorations for most industries outside of the movie industry.  If you want to display a movie poster, hang it in your man cave.

Now, assuming I work in the movie industry, I would make a point of displaying movie posters in my office because that’s what me and my company do.  It’s representing our products or services properly.  However, I would definitely choose my movie posters wisely.  I would not display a movie poster of Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman.  While many people love the music those bands created, many fans don’t approve of the band members’ lifestyles.  No matter your own personal opinions you must admit some of my hypothetical clients may find those movies offensive (Rocketman is rated R).

I’m much more likely to display a Greatest Showman movie poster in my office.  It’s fun, clean, and family-friendly.  It also says something about me as a person.  I would be comfortable staring at that poster for weeks and months on end as opposed to the other 2 examples.  I would be comfortable with clients knowing that about me.  Also, I would be comfortable conducting business in this setting.  Many clients would as well which is the main point.

Using this example, we can easily extrapolate a good set of guidelines for choosing fine art for your office.

Guidelines for Choosing Fine Art for Your Office

• Choose something which will make your clients or customers at ease. They are the most important people in this situation, not you.
• Take your own personal tastes into account as well. If you can’t stand looking at it, then don’t display it.
• When and where you can, represent your company’s products or services in your office without looking like customers just walked into a commercial for your company.
• If you can represent your industry in fine art, inject some of your personality into what you display.
• Keep in mind that desk toys, statues, and figurines are also dust catchers. They require routine dusting or other cleanings.
• Keep geeky and nerdy decorations to a minimum unless your industry specifically caters to that crowd.
• When in doubt, you can always fall back on certain kinds of fine art which are always acceptable. See this article for more details about the best kind of fine art for the office.
• Don’t display super expensive decorations as your jealous coworkers or customers might steal your decorations.

What to Do When You Can’t Represent Your Industry in Artwork

I realize there are a few industries out there where you can’t reasonably represent your work through art.  Banking is one such industry which comes to mind.  If you work in such an industry with your own office space, then you can always fall back on the generically best options for office art.  See the article linked above.  Choose fine art for your office space well.

How to Choose Fine Art for Your Home Office

In this world of telecommuting and home offices, we must address a couple points.  The first point is that even when your office is in your home, it’s not completely your space.  If you work from home for another company and video conference, then your home office is much the same as if you had an office at company headquarters.  It’s not your space and you must display work-appropriate decorations.  You never know what coworkers, superiors, or customers/clients will notice on the wall behind you.

Even if you work for yourself, you probably still receive customer visits at your home.  They still expect to see a professional environment when they enter your home office.  The only time this rule doesn’t matter is when you don’t ever telecommute and never receive customers at your home.  Then your home office decorations are yours to decide.

The other point to consider is how things look and work for you at home.  Are you likely to have your children or pets climbing all over your office?  Perhaps you won’t want expensive or destructible fine art out on display.  Are there other circumstances which you should consider?  Choose your office fine art decoration choices accordingly.

Conclusion

If you get to choose fine art for your office, then make it the kind of fine art which encourages business.  Do not repulse your clients or customers with something off-putting.  You’ll end up regretting your decision.  However, the right fine art will allow for greater productivity on your part and better business relationships overall.