The design elements you choose for your dental office space influence the mood, affecting how patients feel when they walk into your practice. Choosing the right mood for your office requires careful planning. You need the right inspiration, colors, lighting and accessories to create the perfect feeling.
Find an Inspiring Environment
Find a business that makes you feel how you envision your dental office should make your patients feel. Allow yourself to get wild and try out different businesses that appeal to your senses such as floral shops or a specialty restaurant. Businesses from other sectors that incorporate different experiential elements in their design and service delivery to appeal to different customer’s moods may inspire you.
Lighting
Lighting can transform the feel and mood of any space instantly. Use as much natural lighting as possible; it improves the state of mind and can help with productivity for your team. If you choose artificial lighting, choose a soft light to create a relaxing environment. Low lighting creates a relaxed, restful and intimate setting. If you are looking for a more dramatic environment, use hard light with strong shadows or a combination of lights that create different shapes and textures.
Colors
Colors influence your mood. There are different cultural associations you will make with different colors; for example, red with danger as seen in ambulances, which dates back to the caveman’s association to fire as a way to raise the alarm. Different colors have associations with different moods such as:
- Blue – It lowers blood pressure and makes you feel calm.
- Green – It has a strong link to the environment, making you feel relaxed and refreshed.
- Yellow – Its resemblance to the sun helps convey a joyous, happy and open mood.
- Orange – It is a simple, active color that combines the power of red and the brightness of yellow to inspire action.
- Black – It is strong color that looks formal and sophisticated when dressed right
Sometimes you need to combine two or more colors to create the perfect mood. Alternatively, you can choose one solid color, after which you can add small accents such as throw pillows in different colors. Depending on the look you are trying to achieve, combine different elements and enjoy the remodeling process to create the perfect look.
Furniture
The furniture you choose largely influences the mood of your clinic. The size, quality, shape and arrangement of furniture plays a role in creating the mood for your dental office. There are several things to consider when choosing furniture to create the right mood:
- Avoid cluttering your office with furniture. Choose a few essential pieces and limit your accessories to ensure you only use what is necessary.
- Choose a central piece of furniture that serves as the focal point for every room you decorate, such as a coffee table in the lounge area or a rocking chair in the post-treatment room.
- Choose the right furniture size for every room you remodel; if the furniture is too big the room feels intimidating or claustrophobic and if it is too small, the room feels cold and unwelcoming
Your work as a dentist is to help patients feel right, which begins with the mood you set at your office. While hiring a design team to remodel your office, focus on a final product that creates the right environment for your patients to relax.
The HJT design team has vast experience remodeling and designing dental offices, and can help you transform your space to make sure your patients enjoy every visit they make.