I just recently joined a new agency, and no matter how many times I’ve done so — the first few weeks are awkward and a little discomforting. After all, most of us spend as much time at work as we do at home, so the office surroundings is essentially our second home and family. It takes a little time to get used to the new office culture and feel at home.
Every office I’ve ever worked in has had a different vibe, a culture and attitude that’s pervasive in everything — from the way people dress, to the way people decorate their workspaces. Certainly, there are things that agencies and design firms have in common — let’s call it a “creative” culture. But there are also vast differences from firm to firm.
At the last Agency A that I worked at, the atmosphere was very professionally formal. People didn’t all wear suits everyday, but the dress code was definitely professional casual. We also had a managing director that felt strongly against visual clutter in the workspaces — so everyone received a small 2x3’ magnetic board in their space where they were allowed to post personal photos and decorations, and only there. The rest wasn’t as bad as it sounds, but the culture there was definitely more restricted and professional.
Now this new Agency B where I work is completely different. The new place feels like a daycare center compared to the old place. People come dressed in shorts, flip-flops, tshirts, whatever they’d like. Of course, anyone with meetings or pitches are more professionally dressed — but the culture is much less restrictive as evident in dress codes. Workspace-wise, everyone is allowed to decorate their workspace however they’d like — which is good and bad. There are spaces with cool knick-knacks and then there are spaces that look like a yard sale got dumped there. Music is also part of an office’s culture, and here it blasts from different speakers throughout the agency. This is definitely NOT the place to work if you need peace and quiet to concentrate.
So what’s the culture like where you work? Is it chaos or controlled? What else do you think contributes to a studio’s/agency’s culture? Is the culture a reflection of the type of work and clients that the office does, or is it the other way around?
For those who work in offices more akin to agency A, do you find it positive or negative to work in an office with a more disciplined/professional culture?
For those who work in offices more similar to agency B, what are your likes and dislikes about that type of agency culture?
Which grass is greener?
ORANGE.
That's right. We have an ORANGE logo. ORANGE walls (with glossy black trim on the doorways! kill me now!). ORANGE marmoleum flooring (it is what it sounds like) in some areas. There's nothing like walking into the office one morning and seeing some dude painting a wall with a can that clearly says "color accent."
It's actually pretty funny. Ever since it was installed, the jam sessions which are becoming a regular fixture in the "open area," often laden with profanity and other relatively immature hijinx, have yielded better ideas and better work. We're a lot less predictable than we had been. And most of us have offices with doors that close, which you can either choose to keep very clean or do what's been done with mine, which is the complete opposite of "sane."
It's fun. Mainly because we're set up so that you determine what works best for you; we don't have very many rules or restrictions. That's probably more out of laziness and lack of interest in enforcing anything than it is out of a plan for the agency but...whatever. Everybody's happy.
The place I was at before this was just crowded. I didn't think it worked that well, at least not for me.
Our dress code is pretty lax, although I was recently used as an example of what not to do--which came down to basically not wearing ripped jeans all the time. Other than that, we're shorts & flip-flops through and throughout. We allow this, because people know when to dress well.
Our culture is a reflection of the new crop of folks who came in over the past 18 months; we'll see how long it holds up and what the long-term effects are.
On Jul.19.2005 at 12:28 PM