Interior design communicates a great many qualities and concepts to the visiting public and prospective patrons. Interior design provides a good "first impression" and underpins the foundations of the desired relationship between the institution and its employees and customers. A financial institution needs to harness the power of good interior design concepts to communicate messages of stability, fairness and honesty and care for the community in order to be successful.
Visual Stability Through Materials
Most financial institutions want customers to know they are in business for the long term. Decorating the interior of a bank or brokerage firm with very high-quality natural materials can help send this message. The use of real marble, expensive solid woods and deep wool carpets, can visually demonstrate that the institution intends to be more than a 'fly by night' presence in the community. Cheap materials, such as wood laminate floors, fake wood, faux stone work, skimpy industrial carpets and plastic plants, will not convey this idea.
Visual Stability Through Line
Straight lines tend to communicate stability and "structure" to the eye of the beholder. Curved lines send the opposite message, one of ease and flexibility. A financial institution can use either, or a combination, of both line designs to their benefit. For example, the front teller area of a bank, or the Trust department, could benefit from a design based on straight lines in furnishings, patterns on walls and area dividers. A message of "stability" would be useful in these spaces.
The Loan department or Customer Service Center, on the other hand, might want to use curved lines to communicate flexibility and a more relaxed feeling in areas where loan applicants and new customers gather.
Fairness and Honesty
"Fairness," can be transmitted by infusing the interior design with plenty of light. Use of mass glassed surfaces, tall ceilings and keeping the interior free of useless clutter and over-decoration can make a visitor feel as though the institution is "open," and has "nothing to hide." Financial firms that are closed-in, dark and windowless or bunkered under low ceilings, send the opposite visual message: "We're close-minded and we are secretive." This negative message can be especially damaging to financial firms based almost wholly on trust, like stock market investment firms.
A strategic lighting design can assist in setting the proper sense of "openness." Everything inside the institution should be "clear" visually. Many good modern bank designs now eschew private offices altogether or feature office walls made of sparkling glass in order to sell the "we open to scrutiny" message.
Community Connections
Large corporate franchise firms need to make clear to investors and depositors that while policies are set in far away cities by corporate managers, the local branch cares about its community. Customers and depositors should be able to relate to the institution visually. A good interior design will feature local connections in the use of artwork and photographs from around the area. Displays of community projects are also attractive and helpful in sending this message. The branch interior design should be in keeping with the general architectural style of the community too. A bank in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for example, should reflect Southwestern style, while a bank in Kensington, Maryland should reflect a Colonial style in keeping with community history.
