From our home studios in lockdown, we yearned for movement and community. Thriving Workplace was created in a period of continually shifting restriction and response. How do we collaborate with our teams no longer at the next desk but scattered across town? How does a workplace continue to thrive when desks are empty and the lights are off?

Knoll’s researchers snapped into quick action to study the repercussions surrounding a snap shift to remote work. Furthermore, what would a return to the office actually look like? Working in back-and-forth partnership with Knoll, we clarified and streamlined their Research Team’s insight and projections into evergreen multi-use materials.

Inspired by Herbert Matter’s iconic collage work for the company, we created a series of layered photomontages covering broad themes of mindfulness, togetherness, solitude, self-care, survival and–yes even that–a still thriving workplace. Yet, a concept so abstract required a similarly abstract design response. Nothing was concrete, not even the visuals.

Thriving Workplaces marked an unexpected global pivot, demanding nimble joint reaction. Together, we leaned into the feeling of the moment. Through shared processing of our new working realities, we developed graphic approaches to actionable change through motion, video and animation.

Thriving Workplaces established Knoll as a model prototype, prompting change through conversation and presentation. Forming a cornerstone of Knoll’s company-wide approach to a rapidly-shifting landscape, we assisted both Knoll’s interior teams and their wider client base to cope with the radical shifts in life- and work-style after Miss ‘Rona moved in. While assembled as a one-off internal presentation, Thriving Workplaces’ initial impact led to its continued use as an annual campaign for external audiences as well.