Space Planning & 3D Renderings. Take the guess work out of your new office furniture layout.

Posted under General,How To Tips by The Office Pro on Thursday 17 June 2010 at 9:28 AM

Furniture 3D Rendering

Space planning is the part of my job I enjoy most.  After many years of doing this, I have yet to tire of creating imaginative and great looking office furniture layouts for my customers.  Part of the fun for me are the new advances in the design software we use and the new tools the manufacturers come up with to help us.

Pictured here is a sample  2-station collaborative teaming office setup.  This particular one is the Matrix panel system by AIS (formerly Affordable Interior Systems).

AIS has a great online tool we use to go a step beyond basic space planning where we help you choose the overall layout and traffic flow (what goes where).  They have a “Dress, Render & Print” tool which allows us to take a typical work station, such as the one shown here, and apply the specific finishes the customer has chosen to every surface.

These finishes include the panel fabrics (for each tile section), the paint trim, the surface laminate, the storage unit colors and the edge color of the worksurfaces.

Choosing colors for the average customer is an agonizing process.  Second-guessing is the norm and this tool is a HUGE benefit to putting customers at ease about their choices.  It helps so much to visualize what the final specified version of the office furniture will look like when it arrives.

Take the guess work out of the process when it comes time for you to order new office furniture.  Find a local professional to help you out or contact us here at Signature Office Interiors in Abbotsford BC.

Office layout and design planning tool.

Posted under How To Tips by The Office Pro on Monday 7 June 2010 at 9:36 AM

Start your office design and space planning with this handy guide we’ve created here at Signature Office Interiors.

Simply download this 2-page PDF Customer Pre-Design Worksheet and print it.

Sketch in your walls, doors, windows with dimensions.  Then, check off your requirements on the 2nd page for storage, filing, workspace needs etc.

If you have an idea of what you’d like, sketch in a rough drawing of how you would like your furniture placed.  If you have no idea, that’s OK!  We will create options for you and turn your rough sketch into 2D & 3D drawings of your office, along with a full quotation.

Contact Signature Office Interiors of Abbotsford for further help in creating your new office or home office space.

Artopex laminate care and cleaning instructions

Posted under How To Tips by The Office Pro on Monday 25 January 2010 at 4:46 PM

This is a very handy document to give your maintenance staff, cleaning crew, facility manager or whoever is in charge of cleaning your office furniture.

The Artopex Maintenance Guide goes through general cleaning and care instructions for all the various types of surfaces and materials they use in the office furniture they manufacture.

This guide even goes over removing small scratches from the laminate surfaces.

Fun with Fabrics – Not the same old office chair anymore

Posted under How To Tips by The Office Pro on Wednesday 16 December 2009 at 10:52 AM

If you are considering purchasing new office task chairs, please please do have some fun selecting fabrics and colors to match your office and furniture.
The old “black goes with everything” may be true, but it’s also boring and depressing for the staff.

Why not liven things up and use the opportunity to create some more atmosphere and style for your company?  There is no reason not to put in the same effort selecting and coordinating your office as you do your home.  The difference between a grade 1 and a grade 2 fabric is not great, yet just moving up one grade normally adds about 3X the choices to your selection.

Two fabrics on the same chair.  Think unconventional!

Two fabrics on the same chair. Think unconventional!

Keep in mind that not all fabrics are created equal.  If you plan on keeping the chair until the next century, you should consider the durability of the fabric.  Durability is measured and rated on fabrics as “Double-Rubs”.   You might find a fabric with a double-rub rating of 100,000 and think “Whoa, that’s pretty good!”  Then the next fabric might have 1,500,000 double-rubs.

Above all, I truly do emphasize that you select a fabric that you love.  If you skimp a few bucks and then are tired of it or disappointed in a few months, it was a bad purchase.  Ensure that this won’t happen but choosing something that you reacted to positively right off the bat.

Choosing a task chair: mechanisms & adjustments

Posted under How To Tips by The Office Pro on Friday 6 November 2009 at 2:31 PM

There is no more personal choice for furniture within your office than the chair you will use.  Selecting just the right one can be daunting with the innumerable options out there.

I’d like to help you in this post with the mechanism selection.  The mechanism is the metal part underneath the seat where all the adjustment handles come out of.  The mechanism you select will determine what adjustments you will have available to you as well as the type of tilt or recline.

Here at Signature Office Interiors, we offer many seating manufacturers’ line-ups that allow us to tailor each chair to the user.  After selecting the look and feel of the chair, we move onto the mechanism.   What do you choose?

  • Swivel?
  • Swivel/Tilt?
  • Multi-Function
  • 2:1 Synchro Tilt
  • 3:1 Synchro Tilt
  • Multi-Function Knee-Tilt
  • Standard Knee-Tilt
  • 3-Paddle ErgoLX-L-M-SS-01

The list goes on and on and the terms vary by manufacturer.  To understand what each type and adjustment means in practical terms, here is a great webpage to start with from Art Design International which demonstrates the motion of each chair adjustment.  Click on each green area to view the adjustment motion related to it.

As you view the range of adjustments, jot down the ones you want in a chair you buy and the ones you don’t think you’ll need.  Don’t pay for anything you will never use.  If you are just not sure about what to choose, please do contact us here at Signature Office Interiors and we’ll be happy to help steer you towards just the right desk chair for you.