If you feel an extra jolt of creativity when you work in a coffee shop, it may not be from the caffeine: The recently launched website Coffitivity.com lets you stream java store ambient noise because they say it helps boost creative thinking.
Research from 2012 published in The Journal of Consumer Research shows that while a loud room is distracting—as you might expect—a room with a moderate level of a noise sparks creativity because it gets you thinking more abstractly than a quiet room.
Coffitivity’s team ran with those results—all the way to the coffee shop. According to their website, “the mix of calm and commotion in an environment like a coffee house is proven to be just what you need to get those creative juices flowing.” So now, with Coffitivity.com, you can bring the humdrum of the coffee shop to your own workplace. People are definitely jumping on the Coffitivity train: On March 4, the first day the site was live, it got a little more than 100 page views—but four months in, it now gets between 10,000 and 20,000 a day, says co-founder ACe Callwood.
Visit Coffitivity.com to see if it helps you do some out-of-the-box thinking—and consider adding some ambiance to your workspace in these other ways, all of which are proven to amp up your creativity:
Dim the lights
You should turn the room’s brightness down a notch when you want to do your best brainstorming: According to a recent German study, the dimness makes you feel less constricted. Easy enough!
photo: sukiyaki/Shutterstock
Bust out some blue
The color gets you thinking creatively, according to research out of the University of British Columbia. In the study, participants did work on a colored computer monitor. Find a cute blue desktop pattern and do the same, or stock your cube with some blue decorations.
photo: Evgeny Karandaev/Shutterstock
…And go green
In an eight month-long study, people got more innovative in a flora-filled office environment, compared to ones with sculptures or no décor. So go ahead and splurge on some nice flowers or plants—maybe you can even write it off as a business expense.
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
More from Women’s Health:
The Easiest Way to Boost Creativity
Crank Up Your Creativity!
How Mindless Tasks Will Boost Your Brainpower