With the rapid rise in technology bringing out the traits of efficiency, minimalism, and fast pace in our society, it is no surprise that the first generation to truly leverage technology prefers interior design that reflect the aforementioned trends. Here are some interior design habits of millennials that you could incorporate into your own establishments to attract them as clientele.
Open spaces, smaller desk space at work
At workplace, cubicles taking excessive space are being reduced in width for effective use of office floor area. This is suitable for millennials, who conveniently prefer to have little or no physical documents on their desks (as opposed to baby boomers) since most information is stored in space-efficient, portable devices such as laptops, thumb drives and even the cloud! Ceilings have also been lowered for further space utilization. Coincidentally, these changes in interior are cost effective and help organizations reduce office overheads.
According to recent research, workers prefer spending less time on their office desks to do their work and prefer working in cafes, or in non-conventional work areas with glass walls to let ample sunlight make the environment lively and less murky. Simultaneously, ‘awkward’ guest chairs in cozy manager rooms are replaced by beautiful and modern furniture, as a result of the excess space from minimizing work area.
Desk sharing and lowered panels
Teamwork is quite popular among millennials and actually enables them to have more interest in work as compared to performing their due tasks in isolation. Interior designers are keeping this in mind by introducing casual furniture at the workplace, or introducing desk sharing. This helps workers fulfil their ‘social needs’ and boosts motivation as opposed to working in solitude.
A classical application of desk sharing is ‘agile’ software development manifesto where developers work in pairs to boost their coding efficiency – and it is no coincidence that this technique emerged as the past millennial drew to a close!
Reduction in the unnecessary space previously allotted to individual employees is resulting in an acute awareness of the presence of one’s colleagues. Workers would be sure to mind the privacy and would refrain from being too loud to disrupt their colleague’s focus, as opposed to roomy cubicles with raised work panels that often made workers wrongly believe that loud sounds would not adversely affect their colleague’s focus.
The height of these panels are being shortened enough to subconsciously make the worker aware of the work environment, facilitating communication and improving concentration at the same time. Even though millennials are more drawn to working in groups, some may also prefer isolation for better focus. HR needs to differentiate between these two types of workers and provide them with their desired working environments that have sensible acoustic privacy in them.
Smaller apartments for residence
Just like at work, millennials are more inclined towards efficient use of space and prefer smaller apartments to live in rather than large houses. This leads to efficient use of energy and helps them save money from their rent and utilities.
Living in modest adjoining apartments or homes also contributes to social and professional links. Millennials are mostly settled in cities as then they have more convenience in reaching city resources and their workplaces —advanced localities with a booming service industry are highly attractive residential prospects for millennials.
Simple and lustrous home décor
Their preference for smaller living spaces should not be misinterpreted as an inclination towards cramped, stuffy quarters: millennials prefer a decent amount of airiness in the limited space they have, hence their minimalistic approach towards basic home décor and furniture – this makes their home look larger than it really is.
Furthermore, a home with natural elements to it is high on a typical millennial’s list—wooden flooring, barn doors and brick walls (think farmhouse in the countryside) are most popular for them. Millennials seem to covet the grounded, traditional aura these modest aesthetics imbue in their house. Patience is a key virtue when dealing with a customer from this demographic who’s picking out articles for their house.
For instance, they’ll want to pick the perfect grill for their terrace and you’ll have to give them their time doing so, since they’ve got a tendency to have done research on their own beforehand!
‘Technology-intensive’ homes
Millennials tend to be career-driven (or at the very least, like to entertain the idea that they are tech- and money-savvy). They believe that a technology driven lifestyle is necessary for social and career success, which is why gadgets and gizmos fill up a typical millennial lifestyle. This trend carries on over to their homes: smart TVs, surround audio systems, smart appliances – all hooked up to their smartphone. They derive greater happiness and satisfaction from making their home ‘intelligent’ as opposed to buying an expense piece of furniture. Virtual assistants at home, Amazon’s Alexa or Microsoft’s Cortana, represent the current zenith of this technology driven lifestyle.
Technology friendly homes with plenty of charging outlets and ports in almost every room of the house are another necessity for millennials – after all, they have to constantly juice up all the electronic devices they are continuously using.
The current millennial interior décor trends could be summarized in a few words – chic, minimalist, tech-savvy, efficient – however, it should be kept in mind that these tastes may evolve with the advent of new technology – mobile or floating homes seem to be on the horizon. In other words, interior designers need to stay abreast of all that is happening in the tech-world if they wish to keep up with what millennials want in their work and living spaces.
