Karen Haller FRSA is a leading international authority in the field of behavioural colour and design psychology. Karen specialises in Human-Centred Design and how our relationship with colour, design and nature affects and influences us, as well as how businesses and designers can use it to influence positive behaviour and well-being. She is the author of ‘The Little Book of Colour, How to Use the Power of Colour to Transform Your Life.’

Reading Time: 3 mins 

The surge of interest in well-being and wellness shows no sign of abating. The modern approach adopted by enlightened employers is no longer focused on creating cultures and environments that do no harm, but rather on creating those that foster engagement, improve people’s health, address their stresses and pressures and helps them be more productive.

Reading time: 5 mins

Until recently if you were to describe a green office, it would most likely be the sustainable aspects of the structure. This might incorporate the building’s energy saving features such as lighting and heating, how it is designed to reuse and recycle waste and to reduce water consumption. An increasing body of evidence is now focusing on the wider benefits a sustainable workplace can have on the health and well-being of its occupants. Ways in which the work environment can sustain people as well as place.

Reading time: 6 mins

Part 2: Communal Spaces

In our last blog post we discussed lecture theatres and the need to rethink the spatial design of campuses to provide settings suited to student needs, but also to evolving pedagogy and teaching delivery. But it is not just the constraint caused by lecture theatres that might impact student learning and wellbeing on campus. The topic we turn to today is the design of communal spaces to host a variety of student activities.

Reading time: 6 mins

Part 1: The Lecture Theatre

A university campus is not just a workplace for academic and professional services staff, but also the daily ‘workplace’ for thousands of students. How university buildings are designed has a major impact on how spaces are used, and this in turn can affect the wellbeing, sense of belonging and learning success of students. In this short series of two blog posts, we want to elaborate on the importance of design on student wellbeing, but also look at common spatial settings – the lecture theatre and communal spaces – and ask how those can be designed differently.

From the 21st to 23rd May London’s Clerkenwell district played home to one of the biggest festivals in the design industry, Clerkenwell Design Week. Now in its tenth year, the festival welcomed over 34,000 attendees with over 300 brands exhibiting, including Milliken.

The word festival conjures images of happy smiley faces, dancing in music filled fields to the latest headline acts. The harsh reality though can often be something much less Instagram worthy; litter across the landscape for as far as the eye can see, abandoned tents and camping equipment and a general disrespect for the countryside.

Our next Milliken interview is with our Sample Team, who together service all our European sampling needs behind the scenes, so great to hear from them and get to know them a little more!

In a new series of interviews, we feature Milliken associates, learning about their time at Milliken,
and more about them individually. The first of these interviews feature Promise from our Customer Service team!

Reading Time : 5 mins

“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions” Dalai Lama XIV.

Happiness is so important to us humans that we make it the foundation tenet of government, spirituality (Dalai Lama, 1998), philosophy (Jeremy Bentham, 1789) and a burning desire for most of us to find a life well lived in perfect harmony, surrounded by the mythical ‘happiness bird’ chirping somewhere in a nearby rainbow shrouded tree.