Choosing commercial furniture can be daunting for some people, and almost effortless for others - it depends on how much thought you put into it, how clearly defined your design and branding is already, and on a few other things like the type of furniture you need, where it will be used, and so on.
But the choices you make can have a lasting impression on your clientele, and for most customers that impression begins as soon as they walk through your door.
So how do you make the right impression? Here are a few things to consider...
Comfort Counts
Your furniture should suit the environment into which it is placed.
An outdoor bistro seating area might typically have metal furniture, a beer garden might be more likely to have wood, an indoor club venue might have comfortable sofas and armchairs, and restaurants are typically more formal, with straight-backed dining chairs.
In all of these cases, good seating is ergonomically designed and matches sensibly with the tables you use, so customers do not feel like they are at the wrong height compared with their meal or drink.
Colour Charts
Be consistent in your colour choices; that doesn't mean everything is one colour, but try to stick to a couple of complementary shades.
Remember that different woods are different colours too, so you should make sure you stick to either dark or pale wood, unless you deliberately want a contrast between the two.
If in doubt, think of colours that are close together in the rainbow - reds and yellows work well, as do greens and blues - or choose just two contrasting colours for a strong visual statement, such as red and green, or yellow and blue.
Emotion in Motion
Even something as simple as moving your furniture can have a big impact on your customers' enjoyment of your premises.
Furniture that is easy to move gives them some control over the layout of their seating, allowing latecomers to just pull up a chair without the whole group having to move to a bigger table.
This is particularly important outside, where it can be tempting to bolt furniture down so it does not blow over - but stackable outdoor furniture can be packed away during strong winds, when people are unlikely to sit outside anyway, and can still be moved around by customers when they need to.