Blog: Everything

Watson works within the double-diamond process of innovation. This practice moves concepts through an expansion and contraction of ideas until ready for release. The work is fueled by front-end research with our customers and end users. We focus on developing an empathy for and with the people that we are designing for and many stay with us through the journey as we test ideas in development.

This year at NeoCon, Watson is excited to launch a new collection aimed to serve the evolving needs of private office and team spaces. “Interesting combination,” might be your first reaction. After all, aren’t the needs of private offices and teaming spaces at the opposite ends of the spectrum?

Open Office Cable Needs

The contemporary open office work environment has to fulfill a plethora of needs, from function to comfort. Some offices offer employees more traditional, permanent workstations, while others opt for a high degree of mobility, and need a more creative workspace model. Whether permanent or mobile workstations, modern office spaces must consider facility needs, building codes and user functionality, when it comes to cabling.

Historically, there have been two schools of thought when it comes to cable management:

Thrive Digital is a performance marketing agency that plans, implements and optimizes online advertising campaigns seen by millions of people around the world. Thrive partnered with Bidgood + Co to design their new office space in Vancouver, British Columbia. 

For their new Manhattan location, VSP Global, one of the world’s leading eyewear and eye care providers, tasked Kostow Greenwood Architects to design their NYC innovation lab that focuses on developing technologies for the physical and digital aspects of eyewear and eye care.

Telecommunications provider, Cytracom, had recently outgrown its Dallas, TX headquarters and had secured a new, larger office space. They chose lauckgroup to help design the space in a way that would convey the company’s culture. 

One of Watson’s most iconic product details is the Miro leg – a sleek triangular steel tube, hand-mitered at the corners and welded in-house. It’s a detail that delivers clean, modern design alongside superior strength and durability – and it’s all possible thanks to the skilled welders here at the Orchard.

Cirrus 10, a Seattle e-Commerce consulting firm, knew its new downtown high-rise location deserved a modern, visually interesting design. Miro desks and tables, Seven workbenches plus Bahn and ZO storage components helped achieve just that, with functionality and thoughtful details for a delightful user experience.

At Watson, we believe people have a right to know where their furniture came from. Whether there are harmful or toxic ingredients in products that go into offices where they spend 40 hours a week. To rest assured the materials we use in production are sustainably sourced. 

For 24 years, the Chicago-based architecture and design practice has been creating functional, design-forward spaces for clients around the U.S. and the world. Its open, energetic team of industry-leading architects and designers mobilizes to shape clients’ visions into environments that are functional, sustainable, and inspired by people. After all, Partners by Design believes that “outstanding work spaces begin with outstanding people.”

There’s a lot to love about an optimized open office. The setup can promote collaboration, communication and innovation at fast-paced companies, and provide a perfect physical space for organizations that have strong virtual components to their operations. Tech companies in particular – including Apple, whose new $5 billion headquarters is designed around open-concept seating – are often strong proponents of the idea.

Never before has the workplace demanded so much choice and flexibility in the way people need to work to be and do their best. Bahn Rail provides that choice and flexibility like no other product before it, by providing a free-standing ‘rail’ for light or heavy voice, power and data, that can be paired with nearly any worksurface or storage components – and that can be endlessly configured to meet the demands of any floorplan.

We're thrilled to officially introduce Bahn Rail, Bahn Recycle Center, Pin Mobile Screens and Tonic Simple Media – four all-new additions to the Watson product family, designed to enhance the way real people work in offices.

The first thing you saw when you approached the Watson showroom at NeoCon 2017 was a large glass case, full of hanging steel panels powdercoated in a variety of colors. This window area, or “fishbowl,” as we like to refer to it, is pretty unique as far as spaces in the MART go, so we knew we had to make the most of it.

This year's NeoCon showroom highlighted all the ways in which we help designers create empowered workplaces.

The open office is here to stay; that much is a given. Workstations have adapted with height-adjustability, mobility, and modularity. But storage it seems is still stuck in the 90's. 

All the function. Compact form. 

Space is at a premium in today’s workplace, creating the need for mobile, versatile storage and organization solutions – in compact sizes. Watson’s NEW collection of compact storage products offer a smaller form without sacrificing function.

Watch an old movie from the 1940s that features an office and you’re likely to see what looks like an open office concept: rows and rows of desks, typewriters clacking away, no walls in sight. Were the office designers of the 40s ahead of their time?

Effective office design has so many benefits. It promotes employee creativity, conveys organization identity, and instills a sense of confidence in all who enter. While many offices are organized and professional, few go the extra mile and really seek to leave a lasting impression. The five following architectural firms do just that—and do so with flair, functionality, style, and heaps of creativity.

Open-plan office designs have been utilized for many years by companies and organizations across all spaces and industries. While every type of office plan comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, many of today’s most progressive companies have implemented open office furniture systems as a means of creating a more social work environment.

With any office redesign plan, there are typically a number of different factors to be considered, all of which play key roles in determining the end result. Of course the objectives of the redesign project are the starting point. Once the objective is clear, designers have a variety of “levers” that can be pulled to achieve those objectives.

It’s no secret that the workforce of today is quite a bit different than those of the past. This is especially true for “knowledge workers,” the majority of whom tend to find themselves working in an office of some kind, often in front of a computer.

Office design is an evolving discussion in the business world. What aesthetics energize employees? What environments are best for creativity? Is collaboration or privacy better for business?

Office furniture systems contribute to a company’s brand, office culture, and employees’ productivity. As a preliminary step to choosing furniture, it is important for management to outline objectives and then choose the furniture that can support those objectives.

For those who travel to an office space to work each day, it’s easy to take for granted the overall design or appearance of their work environment. The fact is, designing an office isn’t something that happens overnight, and there are a number of different factors that need to be taken into consideration by facilities managers and designers to ensure a successful space.

Fostering Workplace Agility with Flexible Office Furniture

“Agile” and “flexible” are considered buzz words by some. However, to experts studying the evolution of workplace culture, they are concrete descriptions of both how people want to work, and key attributes of today’s strongest, creative and competitive teams.

Watson and Watson Dispatch are taking an industry-leading environmental position by converting all core material to No Added Formaldehyde (NAF) board.

What is Formaldehyde?

Formaldehyde is a naturally occurring organic compound made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. It is produced and broken down by the normal metabolic processes of living organisms and is present even in the human breath. 

We previously shared that formaldehyde has been subject to heightened public concern for its potential to off-gas from commercial products into indoor air. Despite the fact that studies about long-term exposure are not yet conclusive, we do know that clean air supports a healthier workplace and boosts individual and team focus.

In our previous post we explored formaldehyde over-exposure risk in the workplace. Though formaldehyde over-exposure in the workplace is rare, companies need to take precautions when a multitude of new materials (carpeting, furniture, partitioning) are being installed in active work environments. 

The Look and Feel of ‘Uncorporate’ Office Furniture 

As we described in an earlier post, the form and function of the corporate office is shifting away from monotonous, contrived and rigid toward beautiful, authentic, and flexible. 

Tonic Benching by Watson was specified throughout the main headquarters building for permanent and touchdown workstations.  A variety of component infills and privacy screens help users adapt their environment to a variety of workmodes.

When it came time to move the company’s design and development teams from Sun Valley to a renovated Salvation Army building in Portland, the design mandate for the new office was clear--create an open, collaborative office environment that feels as authentic and ‘un-corporate’ as the Smith brand and culture.

Founded in 1972, KEXP is an iconic Seattle public radio station that provides rich music experiences on the air, online, and on the streets. Watson height adjustable Seven benching and modular Zo storage helped transform KEXP's offices into an open and collaborative workspace. 

Perkins+Will is a global, growing architecture and design firm founded on the belief that design has the power to transform lives and enhance communities. So when it came time to design a new workspace for their Seattle team it was crucial that the solution met their current and future functional needs and their demanding design aesthetic.

Discovering the Worksurface B-Side

As one of the few furniture manufacturers that laminate our own substrates, it is critical for our teams to understand the process and techniques that go into making each product component.

Giving up Trends, Embracing What's Real

For nearly ten years we have worked with customers to co-create furniture that meets the unique needs of the teams and people who use them. Time and again we observe that connected teams expect their environments and tools to boost productivity, creativity and the bottom line.

This refined yet highly functional workspace is characterized by its extensive use of exposed birch ply, white walls, and black accents. Large windowed garage doors soften the utilitarian space with daylighting, and a mix of mobile tables and stools as well as Watson Etch boards characterize a highly creative and re-configurable space.

In today’s ever-changing work environments, office reconfigurations are more frequent and necessary than ever.

This week, we sat down with Greg Kooistra, VP of Product Design to discuss how Watson puts design thinking to work within its design and development process. 

The Provider Table is a freestanding, multi-functional unit that boasts ample technology storage and easy reconfigurability to support the varied demands of today's examination rooms.

The Watson team successfully innovated a European favorite to North American needs. This Side Tower is great next to sit-stand desks and features a unique reversible back panel that eliminates handedness inventory issues. Big space for coats, bags, shoes and convenient USB charging. Super smooth concealed runners create dreamy UX quality. The competitors are scrambling!

Change is inevitable in business, so when office furniture fit-outs can be extensive and costly, why not design for it? One way to do this is with a kit-of-parts approach that extends furniture value throughout the organization and into the future with value-driven product features that can flex as enterprise needs change.

As technology blurs the line between home and office, today’s workplaces must compete with living spaces of all kinds, including neighborhood cafes, living rooms, and libraries.