Insight: It’s Messy But That’s OK
Sean Willcock, Director at Davenport Campbell, shares insight on why workplaces should make room for the “good mess” of experimentation, rather than prioritising a perfectly polished office.
I recently saw a video about the joy of a messy house. The idea was simple - if your kids are happy and experimenting, the mess is a sign of creativity, not something to apologise for.
It made me think about our workplaces. We often design offices to look perfect – clean, ordered, controlled. But the work that matters most is rarely that neat. What if our spaces made it easier to test, explore and innovate, rather than hide the “mess” away?
We sometimes tell teams who wish to experiment that "there’s a space for that" – often in a corner, away from the main action. Yet many people do their best thinking when they can spread out, leave things out, and shape their environment over time.
I’ve spoken before about 'Personality Over Polish'. Maybe this is the next layer.
At last year’s Forefront Workplace Strategy summit, Kristine Dery, a Research Scientist at MIT Sloan School of Management, shared the story of MIT’s Building 20 – a place renowned for its innovation because people could adapt and reshape their space. That story still sits with me.
New ideas come from experimentation. As designers, our role is to create workplaces that show the "good mess" of learning and creativity, not erase it.
Would you rather a happy, messy home - or an empty one?
Author: Sean Willcock, Director at Davenport Campbell
Follow us on Linkedin and Instagram for more news and insights: