15 Office Wall Design Ideas to Inspire Your Workers

Are you looking for creative office wall design ideas? With the right approach, almost any idea can become inspirational and help motivate your team and staff. Use bright colors, snazzy phrases and unique patterns to inspire, motivate and energize your workers to bring their A-game to work. 

Here are 15 top ideas to elevate your work environment and help your team reach their goals with every task and project. 

1. Team Acronyms

If your company has a motto or acronym, like TOP — team opportunities progress — it makes a stunning text to paint on your office walls. Consider a plain background, a vibrant color with embossed letters, or a laser-cut acronym that features in 3D over the wall. Add some backlighting to make the design really stand out and remind your staff about your team’s values. 

2. Neon Light Backdrop

Combine nature and technology with a green wall that proudly glows with an inspirational neon light sign. Change the sign for special occasions like staff workshops and meetings to reflect a month’s inspiration. The green wall thrives with various plants and creepers, and using science, it’s clear that plants help workers develop up to 15% more ideas than in a space devoid of plants and flowers. 

3. Team-Build an Art Wall

Improve innovation and creativity with a team building workshop where each member creates artwork or interpretation. Select random frames for each artwork and display them on the wall. Workers take pride in seeing their own work on display among that of their peers, which builds a sense of shared identity.  

4. Logo and Phrase Walls

Any surface can inspire, from the floor to the parking lot walls. Select a phrase like “live, love, laugh” or a variation of that to stencil on a brick wall. The industrial effect is inspirational and will help your workers focus on their duties. Choose a base color and paint about 60% of the surface that color. The remaining space should comprise 30% secondary and 10% accent colors.

5. Blind Feature Walls

The random vertical blind or light fixture takes on new life when you stencil or screen print a phrase or your company name. The movement of blinds and the glow of lights increase the overall appeal, which makes workers proud to be part of the team. 

6. Personal Mottos

Design teams thrive on their mission statement or motto. If your team has access to a surface or divider, you can encourage each team member to develop a phrase they relate to and make a corporate day to paint these. Combine this with an entrance area featuring framed photos of each staff member posing next to their motivational artwork. 

7. Text and Graphics

Using words or phrases with complementary graphics, such as a lightbulb shaped from the words “think big,” can create a meaningful idea and concept to share with others. 

8. Temporary Office Framing

Offices often lack decoration because you only lease the property and can’t make big changes like painting. However, a few frames mounted on the main wall can drive real potential with weekly or monthly artwork replacement. Choose simple graphics that you can easily shape into a stunning piece on a program like Canva. 

9. Doorway Drawings

Every part of your office, including the doors, can contribute a last drop of motivation. The “get the creativity flowing” sign above is a cheeky nod to the bathroom and how everything, including creativity, is a process. 

10. Graffiti for Glory

Bring life to an outdated space with a graffiti wall featuring pop art and emoji-styled graphics. The vibrant use of color and patterns is an instant pick-me-up, while the traditional furniture sets a nice counterpoint that speaks to your company’s sophistication. 

11. Mindmap Walls

Your team’s productivity directly relates to their planning and strategizing together, so painting a significant project’s mindmap on a feature surface is a perfect way to remind staff they overcame a huge challenge, reached the top and can always do so again. 

12. Corner Turn

Corners are a perfect place to take a stand for what you and your team believe in. Choose an issue you feel passionate about, like bigotry, racism, sexism or social issues. Now, choose opposing colors and paint the phrasing on the opposite sides. This technique works exceptionally well on brick walls — and painted, they become natural focal points that instantly draw the eye. 

13. Water Walls

Introducing water, air, and living things into your home or office is known as biophilic design. For example, a cascade of water into an indoor fountain or waterfall boosts creativity and innovative thinking. 

The soft sound of water trickling is also a perfect way to introduce mental calm and clarity. And if you have a busy waiting or production area that you’d like to screen from the think tank room, you can easily do so with a water sheet that produces enough white noise to limit the noise pollution from other spaces. Excessive noise causes significant harm to mental health and well-being. 

14. Light Painting

Natural light is invaluable in any space. Creating a divider of natural light using windows and steel frames is a perfect way to boost happiness. The season and weather daylight conditions affect overall happiness. A winning combination is to choose repurposed hardware, such as window frames made from reclaimed train station beams, which is a cost-saving step to a more creative space.  

15. A Wall of Light

Painting with lights is a perfect way to incorporate technology and innovation to create a dynamic and inspirational surface. Simply find several dated light fittings and repaint them to give them a similar finish. Then, hang these at different levels to make a visually interesting display. Include employees by having them each contribute with their own light. 

To finish, add a low-energy LED light to each and experiment with different wattages or power intensities. For a minimalist look, paint the light shades the same color as the background so that only the silhouettes and shadows are visible at first glance. Each staff member is a light, and their impact affects everyone they cast a light on. 

More Than a Brick in the Wall

Motivating workers is about being innovative, seeing them and what they relate to and developing a visual culture of which they are proud. With the right paint colors, elements like graphics and text and a sense of humor, your team will quickly see the office as a space where they can discover their potential and feel connected to the company culture and values. 

So ditch bare walls and boring bricks in favor of vibrant colors, dynamic makeovers and innovative ideas — so your staff thrives.