Imagine a patient heading into a doctor’s office for the first time for an examination that could possibly identify a very serious condition. They expect to sit in a sterile-looking white office with harsh, florescent lighting adding to the nervousness they are already feeling. However, once they get there, they’re greeted by a warm, inviting, colorful office. When they take a seat and look up to the ceiling, they see motivational quotes from famous people. Gradually their mood switches from one of worry into calm. Ceiling graphics designs like this can be a tremendous addition to a wide variety of commercial applications.
Aside from the motivational potential in medical venues, ceiling graphics can transform a visit to any commercial space to a much more rewarding one. Targeting the concerns and benefits that can be achieved for patrons of a venue can be a very valuable marketing tool.
In retail stores, a colorful and interesting ceiling graphic theme can soften the mood of shoppers to make them more comfortable and thus more likely to appreciate the products they’re browsing through and raise their overall buying experience. This was supported by a study how a store’s atmosphere can influence mood and purchasing behavior, published in the International Journal of Research in Marketing (Volume 14, Issue 1, February 1997). It compared two different furniture stores, where one was judged to be more pleasant and the other was less pleasant. After measuring the mood of the customers at the start, middle and end of the their store visit, it was determined that the pleasant store made more impulse purchases on merely “liked” products. The conclusion was that it could only be explained by the improved mood of the customers in the more pleasant store.
Ceiling graphics can improve the atmosphere of any commercial space. It has been largely overlooked and underused when interiors are being designed today, and the possibilities to use them are incredible.
Here are a just of the few of the possible applications for ceiling graphics:
– Medical Offices (doctor and dental) – Printed motivational quotes and calming sayings, plus satisfied customer images, or just interesting artwork and images can make a very comfortable atmosphere.
– Hospitals – Similar atmosphere to medical offices can be set, but for larger spaces with higher ceilings, larger and more powerful images and words can be applied.
– Professional Offices – Use Images and artwork reflecting the type of business. This could include insurance, law, high tech, or architectural images for each of these type business offices.
– Schools – Graphics of school mascots, it’s history, school colors and large, achievement-oriented text can be applied to auditorium, hallways, swimming pool, basketball and other indoor athletic space ceilings.
– Grocery Stores – This use of ceiling graphics can make what is usually a space with drop ceiling tiles and florescent lights into a much warmer shopping place with company logos and colors, food images or scenes of farming and natural products shown.
– Department Stores – These stores could benefit from style images on each ceiling sections appropriate to each of their type of product sold – one for fashion, another for housewares of just improved art designs to make each more pleasant.
Ceiling graphics have been an untapped tool of interior designers for too long. It’s a feature that can improve the interior space of any commercial space and can be a very inexpensive addition to a company’s overall image and influence.