Most offices are full of good intentions and empty walls. The desks are chosen, the brand colours are on the signage, and then the walls stay blank or get a few generic canvases bought in a hurry. Yet art is one of the simplest ways to make a workplace feel like somewhere people want to be, and somewhere that clearly belongs to your company.
This guide is for office managers, workplace teams, fit-out companies and designers choosing artwork for offices, studios and coworking spaces.
What should office wall art do?
Before choosing a single piece, decide what the art is for. In most offices it's doing one or more of these jobs:
- Telling people who you are. Art in reception and meeting rooms says more about your culture than a mission statement on the wall.
- Making the space feel human. Plants, colour and art soften open-plan floors full of desks and screens.
- Helping people find their way. A consistent theme or colour per floor or zone makes a large office easier to navigate.
- Giving people something to talk about. Breakout areas and kitchens are where a little humour goes a long way.
How do you choose art for each part of an office?
| Area | What works | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Reception | One confident statement piece that reflects your brand | Large or XL, or a bold gallery wall |
| Meeting rooms | Calm, uncluttered pieces that don't compete with the screen | One large piece or a pair |
| Open-plan areas | A theme or colour story per zone, repeated across walls | Series of matching frames |
| Kitchen and breakout | Fun, local or food-and-drink prints | Gallery walls and mixed sizes |
| Quiet rooms and wellbeing spaces | Nature, landscapes and soft colour | Medium pieces, generous spacing |
How big should office art be?
Bigger than you think. Office walls are usually larger than home walls and are seen from further away, so small prints get lost. As a rule, art above furniture should span about two-thirds of the furniture's width, and art on an open wall should fill a good share of it. Where a wall is too big for one piece, a grid of matching frames reads as one confident shape. Our wall art size guide covers the details.
What practical things should you plan for?
- Glazing. Lightweight, shatter-resistant acrylic is safer than glass in busy corridors and kitchens. It's what all Fy! frames use, with UV protection.
- Consistency across sites. If you have more than one office, choose a frame finish and print style you can repeat everywhere, so every site feels like the same company.
- Brand colours. Custom frame finishes and colour matching let the art carry your brand without being a logo on the wall.
- Fixings and installation. Plan who hangs the art and how. Large pieces in public areas need proper fixings, and a professional install saves a lot of wonky frames.
- Timelines. Art is often the last thing ordered in a fit-out. Choose a supplier who can deliver to the project's timeline, not a gallery's.
Should you use original art or prints?
Originals are wonderful for one hero piece in reception, but for most office walls, high-quality prints are the practical choice: they cost far less, they're easy to replace, and you can roll the same scheme out across floors or sites. Fy! prints are on 220gsm gallery paper with fade-resistant pigment inks, hand-framed in solid wood in the UK.
How does Fy! Pro help with office art?
Fy! Pro is our free trade programme for businesses and the designers who work with them. You can share a brief in any format, such as a moodboard, a floor plan or your brand guidelines, and the team will turn it into a complete art scheme for your space and budget. It includes:
- Artwork from over 10,000 independent artists
- Trade pricing, with no minimum order
- Prints, framed art, canvas and bespoke formats, with custom frame finishes and brand colour matching
- Delivery that is often within two weeks, with optional professional installation
- Single offices or multi-site rollouts
Fy! Pro already supplies commercial clients including BrewDog, Yotel, Pentahotels, Prezzo and Kind. Find out more on our Art for Business page, or email trade@iamfy.co. Working on a hotel instead? See how to source art for hotels. Interior designers can read about the Fy! Pro trade account.
Working from home instead?
If you're kitting out a home office rather than a workplace, browse our home office art prints, including prints for behind the desk, where video calls will show them off.