The Perks of Being a SHINE Designer

How do we keep our designers happy and motivated?

They say the way to someone’s heart is through their stomach. So, what better way to motivate and boost morale in the office? We recently came across an article all about “cool office perks”. Of course, most of these revolve around food, but there are also a number of very innovative and ingenious ideas, which would definitely go down well in any office situation!
Here are a few of our favourite things that made the list:

• A gym
• A spa
• A bar that pops up at 5pm
• A popcorn machine
• An ice-cream van
• Massaging chairs
• A personal butler
• Nap rooms
• A ball pit
• Slides
• Zip wires
• A Puppy/Kitten

Whether all of these really exist in the workplace or not, some office must be very fun places to work!! You can view the full article HERE.

This got us to thinking about why SHINE is the most fun design agency to work in.

Although we don’t have everything on the list (don’t worry, we are working on it), we have a very bright outlook in our yellow studio. If you’re looking for inspiration and ideas for creative office perks, then have a read below and how SHINE have created a number of very exciting studio perks that are almost always guaranteed to boost morale and motivation…

Food (of course)
As with the list above, food is the way to any designers’ heart. In fact, because of this we have whole cupboard (ok, kitchen) dedicated to biscuits and tea, we are always able to offer clients the most wonderful selection. But it doesn’t just stop with biscuits; we also like to celebrate with a Domino’s every time there is a birthday – #birthdaypizza.

It has also been known to happen that the sun comes out in Glasgow. If this ever happens, we hold some very important Magnum Meetings on the steps outside where we discuss pressing matters such as milk chocolate magnums vs almond magnums.

Beer O’Clock
To end the week, we have taken every measure possible to make Friday meetings lots of fun… mainly in the form of Beer O’clock. Although not every one drinks beer… some prefer a gin and tonic or something not alcoholic, but “Beer, G&T and Non-alcoholic Beverage O’ Clock” does not quite have the same ring to it. Nevertheless, we are always well stocked… 

SHINY Nights Out
It’s great to get to know our colleagues better. We are just back from one of our Big SHINY Night’s Out, where we enjoyed fancy Japanese food at Sapporo Tappanyaki. They were great hosts and were very impressive and entertaining with their culinary skills. Despite the novelty factor of flaming steak, the food was actually excellent. We even found a yellow chef hat, which of course, we all had to try on. You can read all about our experience if you click HERE.

Fancy Air Conditioning System
In the age of high-tech solutions to all our problems, we are very attached (quite literally, with lots of sticky tape and cardboard) to our extremely efficient and fully-fitted air conditioning system. It really makes the…ehm… warm Scottish summers more bearable.

Daily Entertainment
Keeping the designers entertained is a key part of working in the studio. We listen to the radio and Spotify playlists (not at the same time) and we even have great window seats, where our designers work with a view over Glasgow. However it’s not the great view that we love most about sitting at the windows, it’s the excellent entertainment we get from the daily taxi rage. Right on cue at 5pm, we know it’s nearly time to go home when the taxis and cars start beeping their horns in a beautifully composed symphony – although it can make it hard to hear our Spotify playlist…

So now you know a bit more about our studio and what goes on behind all the designing. What office perks do you have? But more importantly, what would you add if you could?