Top 3 Tips To Add Personality To Your Practice Design

To stand out in today’s image-filled world, you need a little personality in your practice design. The way your clinic looks is as important as your quality of customer service and professional care. These three tips will help bring a sparkle to your medical, dental or vet clinic fitout, and leave a memorable impression on your clients.

1. Choose a Practice Personality

Before choosing colours, textures and materials, decide on the personality/theme for your practice. Are you a homebody? Cool and modern? Fun?

If you want people to get a sense of comfort and old-school values, wooden panels and ceilings, art deco lamps, freestanding bookshelves and lots of knickknacks will achieve that.

If edgy urban modernism is the personality you want to project — think cove lighting, moulded cabinetry and lots of white and stainless steel.

A unified theme is a starting point for decision making. Without it, both traditionally minded and forward-thinking clients will be deterred by the mishmash of clinical practice styles.

2. Add an Injection of Clinic Colour

Colour is the cheapest way to add a spark to your vet practice design, dental clinic or medical centre fitout. Although light, neutral colours like cream and beige are easy on the eye, a pop of bright colour is fun. It detracts from what could be an overly clinical impression, one that’s off-putting to some.

Red is generally not recommended for clinical practices since it raises the heart rate and has associations of danger. But for these reasons red also attracts attention.

Use it in an area of the clinic that you want people to notice; for example, around important health and practice notices or in the children’s play area. Children are drawn to the primary colours red, yellow and blue.

3. Play With Textures and Materials

Although floors and steri/surgery areas need to be without texture and impermeable for easy cleaning, you can introduce engaging texture elsewhere.

Materials such as wood, natural or engineered stone for reception tops, tiles and concrete finishes can add a modern, industrial or homey atmosphere depending on their combination.

Upholstery is also a way to add texture and colour. In a smooth, white space woollen-textured fabric on chairs can break up the monotony and also add a splash of colour.  

Contact Elite

Elite has an in-house design team that can help you design and implement your practice fitout or refurbishment to suit your personality. Contact Elite to discuss your new look and view other clinic fitouts for inspiration.