A Peek at the Office Design of Top Social Media Companies

Your office design says a lot about your company culture and significantly impacts how your employees work.

The classic office design was all about closed-in areas that provided employees with quiet personal spaces, i.e. secluded cubicles and corner offices. But the office layout has recently shifted from closed to open.An open office layout focuses more on open communication, better team collaboration and creating a sense of community amongst employees.

So how do you choose whether your company should stick with the traditional layout or follow the latest open office trend? Actually, you don’t have to choose one way or the other.

You can follow the path of many top social media companies who have learned that you design your office space around your employees and company culture – which usually means mixing features of the closed and open designs together to construct a creative office space unique to your brand.

Get inspired by what these innovative businesses – who also happen to be EventBoard customers – have done with their office spaces.

Pinterest – San Francisco Offices

Located right in the middle of San Francisco’s Design District, the Pinterest offices are all about the creative office space. Pinterest is where the crafty and creative thrive. And those types of people aren’t just the ones using the platform; it’s also true of the employees.

Crafty culture is so much encouraged inside their offices that they hold company Make-A-Thons, where employees physically do some of the projects they’ve found on Pinterest and want to try. Through these events, Pinterest employees have used their own personal creativity to really turn their San Francisco offices into their own unique space with beautiful office interior design.

Pinterest also embraces their crafty culture by having a mainly open floor plan. They have glass-walled conference rooms, desks that people can sit or stand at, comfy chairs spread throughout working areas where employees can sit and work on their laptops.

There’s even an on-site bar and dining area where employees eat catered lunches and dinners together every day. The openness and long tables in the dining area give employees a chance to meet new coworkers, talk with ones they work with daily, and eat their meals – all while still being able to work on their laptops in a collaborative environment.

Their office space does include some closed-in areas and conference rooms, but overall Pinterest embraces the flexible, open floor plan because their projects and tasks require employees to shuffle around a lot and teams grow quickly so they need that flexibility.

Twitter – San Francisco Headquarters

#relaxed #urban – These two words are how to best describe the company culture and office design of Twitter’s headquarters. Occupying a few floors inside the Market Square complex, the architects who designed their headquarters made sure the space reflected Twitter’s company culture and brand.

Speaking of brand, check out Twitter’s custom theme for their EventBoard displays on our Customers page. 

From informal seating areas to small and large conference rooms to multiple break and lounge areas, the office atmosphere is relaxed and inspires creativity and collaboration among Twitter employees. They’ve incorporated some glass-walled meeting rooms and offices, and full-length windows along the walls let in natural light.

They have a large cafeteria and gathering space, which they refer to as the Commons, that is the perfect space for eating, greeting and holding group meetings. Even more fun and fitting to Twitter’s relaxed company culture is the roof garden that opens up from the Commons. This park-like area covers nearly half an acre and is enjoyed by all employees.

Twitter also cares about the physical health and work/life balance of their employees, which is why you’ll find a fitness room, yoga studio and two game rooms inside their headquarters in San Francisco.

Yelp – Chicago Offices

The top-ranked user review and recommendation website and app, Yelp was drawn to the authentic urban environment feel that Merchandise Mart in Chicago provides for their Midwest offices. Several tech companies choose this area for their offices for its urban energy and because there’s plenty of floor room to easily adjust to company growth.

Like the honest customer reviews they publish, Yelp’s Chicago offices clung to the exposed honesty of the building’s design. The mechanical systems are uncovered, many structures were stripped bare, and several new interior finishes were selected because they complement the raw, urban conditions of the old office space.

They designed enclosed rooms to be simple and practical for employee use, but they also included community and social spaces. Inside Yelp’s 50,000 square-foot space that holds 375 employees there are conference rooms, teaming areas, a large training room and a grand break area complete with a coffee bar, beer bar and a game room.

As you’ve taken a peek into the offices of these top social media companies, you can see that a healthy mix between the traditional and new are what help foster a good office environment and workplace productivity.

Pinterest and Twitter photos from Office Snapshots; Yelp photo from Officelovin’

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