A First Glance: Using Activity-Based Working to Design Workspaces with NORNORM

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In a world where the nature of work is ever-evolving, understanding the activities that define our workday is crucial. Having designed over 2,000 workspaces, our NORNORM Design & Range Specialists, Majken and Louise, leverage their extensive experience in their design approach, helping customers identify how they work, socialise, and collaborate. With our forthcoming ‘Activity Set Book’, NORNORM is set to even more meticulously curate and personalise the spaces that empower our clients to do what they do best.

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A First Glance: Using Activity-Based Working to Design Workspaces with NORNORM

In a world where the nature of work is ever-evolving, understanding the activities that define our workday is crucial. Having designed over 2,000 workspaces, our NORNORM Design & Range Specialists, Majken and Louise, leverage their extensive experience in their design approach, helping customers identify how they work, socialise, and collaborate. With our forthcoming ‘Activity Set Book’, NORNORM is set to even more meticulously curate and personalise the spaces that empower our clients to do what they do best.

Going from Individual Pieces to a Range of Functions

Through the forthcoming activity set book, NORNORM wants to emphasise the concept of activity-based working. By categorising office activities into different zones, customers will now be able to identify their needs according to their performed activities, later informing the proposed office design by NORNORM. With activities ranging from focused individual work to impactful collaborations and vibrant social interactions, the activity set book will inspire and prompt clients to think about the various activities that define their office space.

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Curated Sets for Every Need

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The activity set book has a curated approach to design. It doesn’t just suggest furniture, it presents comprehensive ideas and proposals within each activity zone. For example, for the focus activity zone, there will be different furniture sets suggested for face-to-face meetings, desk-sharing, and focused individual work (see the image above for focused individual work), allowing the client to choose what inspires them within each type of activity, while naturally considering the highest demands of functionality and the NORNORM design aesthetics in each proposed set.

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Co-creation in Focus

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By using an activity-based approach to identifying workspace habits and needs, the design process will now become more streamlined, efficient, and intentional. At NORNORM, we want to create spaces that you love, so that you can do what you do best. By focusing on activity zones and suggesting specific furniture sets, we aim to co-create your space together, more intentionally, sustainably, and functionally.

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Want to know more?

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As this guide promises to be an invaluable resource for anyone looking to create, move, or change their office space, please reach out to our design team at designteam@nornorm.com if you are curious to know more. Stay tuned for the final release of the activity set book. Together, we look forward to designing and working more intentionally - always with circularity at the heart of what we do.

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Exclusive Insights from NORNORM's Circular Breakfast at Tech Arena 2024

At this year's Tech Arena, one of Scandinavia's largest tech events, NORNORM hosted the Circular Breakfast, bringing together industry leaders, innovators, and forward-thinkers to explore the role of technology in shaping the future of circular companies. We caught up with a few of our expert panellists afterwards to gain exclusive insights on the topics discussed.

Nanna Gelebo (BCG) on Bridging Linear and Circular Business Models

Nanna Gelebo has been a Partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Stockholm for 12 years, with a strong track record of driving transformative change in the retail sector on everything from strategy to implementation.

Key Insights

Nanna discusses the concept of 'cross-fertilisation' between linear and circular business models. She highlights the importance of transforming transactional customer relationships into relational ones through circular efforts, emphasising that rental and second-hand products can serve as gateways for consumers into more sustainable consumption patterns. This approach not only benefits the environment but also opens new avenues for business growth.

Takeaway

Linear business models do not have to stay linear. You can start to become more circular by gradually integrating a circular business model into your current linear one, through e.g. rental and second-hand products, building a circular set-up that suits your business specifically.

Marcus Linder (RISE) on Evaluating and Ensuring Circular Claims

Marcus Linder is the Director of Business Design at the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE). He holds a PhD in Technology Management and Economics from Chalmers University of Technology, specified in environmental research, with his research having been applied industrially in procurements by industry giants such as Volvo.

Key Insights

Marcus brings attention to the critical aspect of a product's end-of-life plan. He emphasises that being 'potentially circular' is insufficient without a concrete and, preferably legally binding, plan for product lifecycle management. This perspective is crucial for customers evaluating circular claims, pushing companies to not just promise sustainability but to embed it into their actual business practices.

Takeaway

To remain credible towards industry peers and customers, the best practice is to have a clear, communicable, and incentivised plan for your circular business model that customers can trust and rely on. It is important that customers should be able to evaluate and ensure your claim of circularity and end-of-life product plans.

Vojtech Vosecky on Being Authentic when Marketing your Circular Efforts

Vojtech Vosecky is one of the leading circular economy advocates, with experiences ranging from being the co-founder of the successful think-tank Institute of Circular Economy, working for the European Parliament, and the world-leading organisation Circle Economy. In 2022, he was also selected as one of the Top Green Voices to follow in Europe by LinkedIn.

Key Insights

Vojtech stresses the importance of being hyper-authentic in the communication of your circular business principles. For him, it’s about being bold in stating what you stand for, challenging misconceptions, and creating moments of realisation for your audience (think true “aha-moments”). His approach - educate, inspire, and agitate - is a formula that companies can use to effectively market their circular efforts. Vojtech highlights that no matter the format of your marketing, and to avoid the trap of greenwashing, be authentic and stand your ground, whilst always backing up with research. That always wins.

Takeaway

When marketing your circular or sustainable business efforts, especially on LinkedIn, use the three principles of educating, inspiring, and agitating - ideally in one go. Be authentic, use visuals, and create truly educating moments. Use facts whenever you can. However, be careful not to over-do them - and always, always, double check them.

“In the end, what is it about? It's about creating a relationship between the user and this object. I think we all have a strong link to things that are meaningful, that have been charged by accompanying our life.”

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In the end, what is it about? It's about creating a relationship between the user and this object. I think we all have a strong link to things that are meaningful, that have been charged by accompanying our life.

A First Glance: Using Activity-Based Working to Design Workspaces with NORNORM

In a world where the nature of work is ever-evolving, understanding the activities that define our workday is crucial. Having designed over 2,000 workspaces, our NORNORM Design & Range Specialists, Majken and Louise, leverage their extensive experience in their design approach, helping customers identify how they work, socialise, and collaborate. With our forthcoming ‘Activity Set Book’, NORNORM is set to even more meticulously curate and personalise the spaces that empower our clients to do what they do best.