Clymer 1

Melissa Clymer

Professor Blouch

English 1201

26 April 2020

How do the impacts of interior design affect customers in the hospitality industry?

Did you ever think about why the inside of rooms are designed the way they are?

When researching interior design, I have found that many authors have published

articles, newspapers, and business websites. They talk about how important it is to

design a room that will please customers. Businesses being created by interior

designers, have to be done correctly in order for it to be successful like planned. Interior

design plays a huge role in how well a business will do, or how well the workers do

when creating a lifestyle place for people. Majority of resources explain and agree with

the same standards of designing rooms and insides of places. The inside decoration of

hospitality industries does affect a customer's overall judgement of a particular place

based on colors, layouts, and the atmosphere.

Being in interior design has a lot of criteria the worker must know to be

successful. Environments that are created around us needs to be safe, healthy,

relaxing, and comfortable. It is meant to be a place people would not mind spending

their time at. No one really thinks about how much it can impact a person and their

attitudes. A website, created by Jessica Duaray, who is the lead designer in her

company states, “A beautiful design isn't worth much if the living space is not

comfortable or it does not fit with your lifestyle.” (Duaray). Coming from a professional, it

is easy to understand that there is no reason to create a nonfunctional place. There are
 Clymer 2

many things to look into when trying to design a place to make sure it meets the needs

of the customers.

To start this off, I am going to discuss the importance of colors in interior design

and the impact of them. Depending on the room or business being created, colors have

to be decided. Jacob Oleson works in the field of design. He studied and became a

founder of colors and their meanings when designing. Here is one of his psychological

effects on yellow. According to Jacob, “yellow is the color of warmth, wisdom,

prosperity, sympathy and cowardice.” (Oleson). He explains many colors and how they

can affect the moods of people in a room. Just by sharing about yellow shows why it is

important to pick the right colors when designing. You would not typically want a

bedroom to be black because you want to feel at peace and relaxed when laying in bed,

and black stimulates different moods to the brain because it is a darker color with worse

meanings.

There are not just colors, there are also shades for colors. Homedit is a website

that also tells importances of colors. Stated in the website, “Light colors are airy and, as

a general rule, they make rooms feel larger and brighter. Dark colors are sophisticated

and warm and they make rooms feel intimate.” (Homedit). When painting a living room,

it is typical to pick a lighter color. Picking a light tan can make it feel larger and brighter

instead of doing a darker shade of brown. Shades can cause an impact because some

might be too bright. It is important to know exactly what color and what shade of the

color because one wrong shade can throw off the mood that was intended for the room.

People can be affected by how they act or their attitude based off of the walls around
 Clymer 3

them. The colors are intended to be a liveable and welcoming area when it comes to

designing a home, office, or business.

Colors are decided through the type of theme the hospitality industry is going for.

Some restaurants are colored completely different because the theme of the place is

not the same. If a hotel is meant to be romantic, pink, red, and white are normally used

as the theme colors. If it is a kids hotel, it would be more likely for a designer to use

blue, yellow and orange for a fun, relaxing, and happy area. Simexa’s blog tells us

“Using the wrong color can be determinant for the business itself, as it can affect

negatively the mood of the customers, and their experience.” (simexa). The decorations

of colors need to go with the business and what they are going for when their customers

come.

The way the inside of a place is laid out can impact a customer. For example, in

a hotel, the lobby is what a customer sees first. Designing a lobby needs to meet the

needs of the people who will be coming in the front door. Nigel Howard, a worker of

interior design says, “The design of the lobby has the power to define the customer’s

first impression of your hotel and influence their guest experience from the outset.”

(Howard). No one wants to walk into a dirty, messy, ugly lobby. Walking into a hotel

normally has a grand entrance making the customers say “wow this hotel is beautiful”.

It makes the customers excited to see the rest of the place they are staying at.

Next the layout is important. All businesses have different layouts for certain

reasons. For instance, the layout for a grocery store is different from a movie theater.

Most necessities are spread out across the store from corner to corner so all the extras
 Clymer 4

are left in the middle. Businesses want the customers to stop and look down aisles

grabbing unnecessary items while shopping for what they really came in to get. Most

customers need multiple things so they grab one thing from one side, then have to

travel to the other side of the store for the rest. It is actually a great plan for a layout

when trying to make businesses successful. Rebecca Rupp says “A common feature of

supermarkets is the one-way entry door; to get back out, you are compelled to walk

through a good portion of the store—with its tempting displays of buyables—to find an

exit.” (Rupp). Most places the entry and exit are the same doors. Grocery stores are

different because they want to draw their customers in. Their layout helps them cause

customers to find things that interest them, leading them into buying things that they did

not plan on purchasing. Business sales go up when it is designed properly making the

business and the designers who created the layout, successful.

Restaurants are built differently depending on the type of restaurant it is. For

example, Noodles and Company is a restaurant that is in Dayton. It has a layout not like

every other restaurant. When first walking in the customer is automatically in the line to

order. One side of the line is a wall with the menus, then the tables are to the other side.

There is a seperate exit door on the other side also. Many people get quick food

because it is essential for their day to day activities. Chambers, a worker for Noodles

and Company states, “Where we place our menus, all those things are important to

make it an easy experience” (1:47, Chambers). They talk about how the first thing their

customers see is the menu and not all food places have that at their entrance. Layout is

important for restaurants because it shows the type of customers the business is

looking for and can cause the restaurant to do well or not do well.
 Clymer 5

Lastly, the atmosphere plays a huge role in designing. Lighting in a room is

important when talking about the atmosphere it creates. Certain rooms want to have

more lighting than others. It can be the type of lights put into a room, the amount of

lights, and even natural lighting such as windows. If working in an office, it is nice to

have some natural lighting that comes through to the work space but it needs to be

placed correctly. If someone is sitting in a movie theater, the lights are dim and around

the movie room. Both types of lights create a relaxing feeling just for 2 completely

different atmospheres. Kong states, “65.9% of the participants in the office still complain

about daylighting glare at their workstations.” (sciencedirect). This statistic shows that

lighting plays a role in the moods of customers. If customers are complaining about how

much lighting is coming into their office, then that goes to show it is important on how an

office is made and what has to be done to not affect a customer trying to work who still

wants some type of natural lighting.

The atmosphere can be fun, romantic, quiet, or friendly. If you ever look at

restaurants, some are designed with game rooms. These game rooms are intended to

bring the customers entertainment instead of just food. Symbeo Health tells the benefits

of game rooms. Admin states “Some restaurant patrons see restaurants not just a place

to get a meal, but also a venue where they can relax, hang their coats and play some

games with their friends.” (Admin). Not every restaurant is meant for a game room but

that is part of interior design and knowing what is the right design for the right place.

Game rooms can bring out many customers because they are not trapped at a table

waiting for their meal. It is a fun environment and brings groups of people together
 Clymer 6

making the business of the restaurant good and the atmosphere around everyone

happy.

Music is played in businesses to create a type of atmosphere for the shoppers, or

workers. Majority of customers think businesses are more welcoming due to a certain

type of music that is more calming and not irritating because of rough tones. Music is

not played in businesses just by choice, it is supposed to go with what the business is

and how the store should make the customer feel. Based on certain atmospheres, the

music is different. There are so many styles of music used for the design of stores, or

rooms. Going to a club typically has more upbeat music while going to a romantic dinner

has softer music. Both scenarios are fun and enjoyable but in two different ways

because of the type of atmosphere.

Interior design is not an easy job. There are many importances of being

successful in the field and designing places just the way they should be. If a place is not

designed right, it will most likely not sell like it should. Some people have interior

designers redesign the inside of their homes so they can sell it for more. If the house

doesn’t have what it needs to sell for more, then how can the seller be successful? A lot

of jobs do good based on how well something is designed. People would rather walk

into a nice, beautifully designed house and be impressed instead of a run down one.

Many people also think they can easily redesign something. In that case, some

get lucky while others do not. It might cost some to have a professional do it, but it is

safer and better than messing it up trying to do it on your own. It is not always cheap to

redesign something but it is well worth it, if the business will do well because of it.
 Clymer 7

Making sure the right amount is spent is important also. The money that goes into

designing something needs to be planned out when designing the plan so that way it is

guaranteed it can be paid for. According to a painting company called Sherwin Williams,

the wrong paint can cause frustrated customers along with wasted money spent and a

bad reputation (Williams).

Customer experience is the number one priority in businesses. How a customer

feels when entering the inside of the building can define so much. You want the space

to be welcoming, and open. Bright, and light colors with a nice layout can lead to

happiness and the customers feeling relaxed. A couple going on a date to a fancy

restaurant, is soothed by darker colors, and lights being dimmed and romantic.

Customer experience is also affected by how their hotel room might look, or how well an

interior designer decorated their bedroom or even house. Customers will always have

different tastes, so you want to make sure it will fit for their personality so they have the

experience they want.

The way the store is set up, the colors surrounding the place, and the

atmosphere that it brings will determine how a customer would want to rate the place. If

you think about how often ratings are used, it can make or break a place. When going to

look for a hotel to stay, most customers would check the ratings to see if it met the

wants and needs they have. You want to design the inside of a building with the right

needs so a good rating is made. If a room is designed badly, the customer could rate it

poorly which not only lowers the businesses chance of doing well but also causes the

workers who designed the room to also lose business.

 Clymer 8

The interior of a place also plays a big part in advertisements. Videos and

pictures of an area are used to try to catch the customers attention. If the pictures of the

room do not look appealing, the customer most likely will not look further into the place.

Customer experience, ratings, and advertisements can affect how a business will do in

life.

Some people would argue that it is not possible to have the price match the

benefits. They would think if they wanted it to look how it needs to be, then the price

would be way over budget. They would not be happy with the outcome if they did not

spend the amount of money they should have to make the place pleasing.

Others would also say that the time and expense it takes to actually make it look

how it needs to be is way too long. Some people would not want to be patient enough to

wait for a project to be completed when designing a room or inside of a business. They

would say it costs too much money to design a room properly or to please customers.

Lastly, not everyone would agree with what colors mean. Some might say black

soothes them while it reminds others of death. Not all customers will want to base it off

of how interior design is viewed. They will want the colors they want and what will

please them even if it is not physiologically correct.

In conclusion, there are so many different reasons that interior design is used to

create businesses, homes, rooms, and restaurants. All of those consist of customers

and customers should always be an important priority. Without pleased customers, it is

hard to make anything successful. It all falls back on the interior designers if you sit

back and think about what has to be done to make customers happy and feel
 Clymer 9

comfortable in any atmosphere they are in. It is easy to not realize how important it is to

design a room properly, but the job takes a lot of skill, talent, and well thought out

planning. The inside decoration of hospitality industries does affect a customer's overall

judgement of a particular place based on colors, layouts, and the atmosphere.

 Clymer 10

Work Cited

Admin. “Benefits of a Restaurant Gaming Room.” SymbeoHealth, 16 Dec. 2014,

www.symbeohealth.com/why-have-gaming-rooms-in-restaurants/. Accessed 26

April 2020

Baranowski, Eric, director. Noodles and Company-Service Process Design.

Noodles and Company-Service Process Design, 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=2aygOeio0ws. Accessed 26 April 2020

Duaray, Jessica. “About.” Jessica Dauray Interiors, 2017,

www.jessicadaurayinteriors.com/about. Accessed 26 April 2020

Eweev. “The Psychology of Colors in Hospitality Businesses.” Simexa, 27 Nov. 2018,

www.simexa.com/blog/psychology-colors-hospitality-businesses. Accessed 26

April 2020

Howard, Nigel. “Nigel Howard Creative: Interior Design Company: Dublin: London.”

Nigel HowardCreative, 2018, www.nigelhowardcreative.com/ Accessed 26 April

2020

Kong, Zhe. “The Impact of Interior Design on Visual Discomfort Reduction: A Field

Study Integrating Lighting Environments with POE Survey.” Building and

Environment, Pergamon, 23 Apr. 2018,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132318302361. Accessed 26

April 2020
 Clymer 11

Olesen, Jacob. “Psychological Effects Of Color In Interior Design.” Color, 6 Sept.

2016, www.color-meanings.com/psychological-effects-color-interior-design/.

Accessed 26 April 2020

Rupp, Rebecca. “Surviving the Sneaky Psychology of Supermarkets.” National

Geographic, 23 Jan. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/food/the-

plate/2015/06/15/surviving-the-sneaky-psychology-of-supermarkets/#close.

Accessed 26 April 2020

Stefan. “The Role Of Colors In Interior Design.” Homedit, 10 Feb. 2015,

www.homedit.com/the-role-of-colors-in-our-lives/. Accessed 26 April 2020

“Why Specifying Paint Is Important - Sherwin-Williams.” Sherwin-Williams, 2020,

www.sherwin-williams.com/architects-specifiers-designers/education/paint-and-

color-technology/sw-art-pro-whyspecifyingpaint. Accessed 26 April 2020