So, you want to install a wall mural into your office or business? Great idea! Walls are vast canvases onto which infinite creative ideas can play out. Furthermore, an excellent wall mural can truly transform your workspace.
But what kind of mural would look good in your space? Should the mural be hand-painted or printed? Should it be a photo or illustration or text? Should it take up the whole space or just serve as an accent wall? The possibilities are endless!
With COVID-19 still in full effect and forcing most office workers to work from home, these ideas can also be applied to your home office. You may have left your home office to fester in boringness while your cool work office had all the updated digs. Now is the time to strike and outfit your home office with the look of your dreams. Make it modern, rustic, vintage, retro, classy, or corporate – and the matching wall mural style can give it that look. You’re going to spend long hours in your home office (hint: get a good chair), so you want something inspiring to look at as you look up from the spreadsheets on your screen. Trust us, you’re going to absolutely love the mural you end up choosing.
If you’re overwhelmed looking for a place to start, you’ve come to the right post. The team at Coastal Creative has designed, printed, and installed hundreds of wall murals over the years. Here are some of our favorite starting points for brainstorming and designing an incredible, room-brightening office wall mural:
Table of Contents
- 9 Contemporary Office Wall Mural Trends to Boost Productivity [Infographic]
- 8 Tried and True Office Mural Ideas
- 8 Spaces that Got it Right
- 15 Sites to Turn to for Wall Mural Inspiration
9 Contemporary Office Wall Mural Trends to Boost Productivity
Wall murals are beloved by tech companies, start-ups, and modern businesses of all kinds. And for good reason! A dynamic wall mural can elevate an office space from drab and sterile to lively and inspiring in an instant. Plus, wall murals allow for unending branding and story-telling opportunities.
Take a cue from corporate design thought leaders like Google, Airbnb, Spotify, and Apple. If you aspire to attract a young workforce and keep your employees motivated, here are 9 office wall mural design trends that beloved by companies with high employee satisfaction rates:
Share this Image On Your Site
Tried and True Themes
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Certain wall mural ideas have persisted through the years because of their universal appeal and versatility. Here are eight wall mural themes that could work in just about any space:
1. Local Cityscape Wall Murals
This design is a great way to show off your local pride while giving your customers something awesome to look at. Simply getting your hands on a quality high-res photo of a beautiful angle of your city will put you on the right track to achieve this design. 
2. Outer Space Wall Mural
For many people, nothing is as awe-inspiring, and simply inspiring, as outer space. If you run a business based on inspiring people to further themselves, a wall mural that centers around a space theme can do wonders for your clientele.
3. Beach Scene Wall Murals
Do you run a mental or physical therapy office or a travel agency? If so, a quality beach scene wall mural should be right up your alley. This relaxing and visually pleasing choice will help customers feel at ease and allow them to escape for a few brief moments. Escapism can be healthy once and a while, and especially for patients of mental/physical therapists offices, this escape can be very welcome. For travel agencies, this wall mural choice can simply help inspire a customer’s final choice for a destination!
4. World Map Wall Murals
For international businesses, travel agencies, or any business that deals with diverse cultures, world maps are a simple and striking way to communicate a sense of connectedness and worldliness.
5. Abstract Wall Murals
Sometimes you want something a little more, let us say, “out there.” For art shops, cafes, and libraries, this idea can be especially useful, as you can inspire your customers to reach for originality! Think of complementary colors and shapes dancing in a pleasing composition and you will begin to have an idea of what an abstract design might entail.
6. Forest Wall Murals
Transform your office wall into the great outdoors. A peaceful green forest as a wall mural can give the feeling of peering through a window. Plus, green foliage and woody colors look great with all sorts of furniture and interior design schemes.
7. Collage Wall Murals
Tell the story of your brand by combining some of your most powerful imagery in a wall mural. Graphics, quotes, and photographs that represent your products and company culture can convey a great deal about your brand. When displayed tastefully together as a wall mural, the space becomes unmistakably yours.
8. Underwater Wall Murals
Imagine a flock of fish and coral reef entreating your customers as they enter your workplace. This awesome idea can provide a sort of aquarium space without the expensive practice of keeping a hundred cool critters alive. If you want to do something unique and fun with your wall mural, an ocean floor image is a great option to consider.
Spaces that got it Right
If the tried-and-true wall mural themes aren’t your style, there are plenty more ideas you can draw inspiration from. Here are 8 custom wall mural ideas that are unique and inspiring:
1. Inspire Movement and Play
Combine bold colors, geometric shapes, and just a touch of abstraction, and what do you get? A dynamic and playful wall mural that brightens the space, energizes people, and communicates a positive message about your brand.
2. Famous Thinkers
Let your employees draw inspiration from some of the greatest minds of all times. Abstracted illustrations and bold quotes are a simple and attractive way to communicate some of your company’s founding principles.
3. Clean Cut
Less is more. Use clean lines, symmetrical patterns, and legible fonts for clutter-free and ultra-sleek wall mural that will keep your employees focused.
4. Artistic Photo Wall
Who doesn’t love to gaze at a wall covered with framed photos? As cozy as photo walls can be, they sure are a pain to dust. Have the best of both worlds with a wall mural that artfully displays numerous photos.
5. Two Faced
Can’t make up your mind between two excellent wall mural ideas? You may be able to combine them for a head-turning effect that plays with contrast and perspective.
6. Minimalist Bliss
Natural colors and plenty of negative space combine to create a truly peaceful wall mural effect. If your goal is to ease your clients’ minds, a simple and heartfelt illustration may be the wall mural for you.
7. Words of Motivation
Keep your clients pumped up with inspiring and powerful slogans in high-visibility areas. If your space includes mirrors, you can even print the mural backwards so that it can be read in the mirror.
8. Method to the Madness
Illuminate the thinking process behind your service with clean, visual representations of data. Not only can a wall mural like this serve as a welcome reminder to your clients that they’re in great hands, but it will also make your space pop!
Want to see more photos of incredible murals? Check out the following posts on our blog:
- Creative and Functional Ways to Transform your Workplace with Murals
- 9 Stunning Ideas for Ceiling Murals
- Accent Wall Ideas for an Office or Business
15 Sites to Turn to for Inspiration
We’ve designed and installed many wall murals over the years. Every project is different, and the starting places that spark inspiration are just as diverse. Here are 15 of our favorite places on the web to browse to get those creative juices flowing:
1. OfficeLovin’
Ever wondered what it would be like to work at Uber or LinkedIn? OfficeLovin.com tours and photographs some of the most beautiful, creative workspaces from around the globe, including many prominent tech leaders. Their catalog focuses mostly on startups and other technology companies, an industry that tends to be on the cutting edge of design innovation. Murals feature heavily in many of the OfficeLovin’ profiles, so use that search function to browse through hundreds of enviable workspaces with striking mural designs.
2. Office Snapshots
If you’re interested in seeing real-life examples of specific design elements, OfficeSnapshots.com will be hugely helpful in your next office design project. Office Snapshots photographs workspaces from a wide range of industries, like retail, education, law, and medical, and catalogues each photo according to the design elements employed therein. For a quick way to see all of the wall murals in their archives, browse photos in the Environmental Graphics category.
3. Colours X Art
Though once seen as nothing but delinquency and vandalism, in the last few decades graffiti has emerged as a celebrated art form of its own. With its urban, guerrilla roots, graffiti is very much tied to the idea of tagging spaces with an artist’s unique identity and history. Due to its tremendous capacity for storytelling and identification, many companies have begun to incorporate graffiti themes into their office designs.
Looking to the street is an excellent way to find inspiration for a graffiti-themed office wall mural. Colours X Art is a prolific and simple blog featuring stunning graffiti from all over the world. Updated daily, simply scroll to see incredible works from Brooklyn to the Eastern Bloc. The curator does an excellent job of crediting the artists and correctly identifying the location of every work, so you can always hunt down more information on your favorites.
4. Banksy.co.uk
The world’s most famous and elusive graffiti artist keeps a website as sparse as his interactions with the media. Using unique stenciling techniques for art works great and small, Banksy is the master of transforming available space into clever murals. Banksy’s work is a great place to start if you are interested in creative use of architectural and environmental features.
5. Tracy Lee Stum’s Chalk Graphics
Something especially neat about wall murals is that, with such a large canvas, you can take advantage of perspective in unique ways. Tracy Lee Stum is an artist whose work revolves around vantage point, creating incredibly lifelike chalk murals on walls and floors. Her works appear to pop out at passersby, making for an incredibly interactive experience. For some inspiration on how to incorporate both floor graphics and wall murals together for a visually stunning effect, take a look at her impressive portfolio.
6. TypEverything.com
Typography is inextricable from great design, and many murals include calligraphy and lettering. Especially for an office wall mural, typography can be used to convey company values and culture in a visually interesting way. Typeverything.com is a blog curated by Andrei Robu and a team of graphic artists to feature stunning examples text and design. The gallery mostly features digital typographic design, though hand lettering and calligraphy will also make appearances from time to time.
7. r/EarthPorn
Wall murals don’t need to be elaborate works of art. Sometimes the greatest backdrop for an office environment is the work of Mother Nature herself. High-resolution photos make for gorgeous wall murals. Photos of nature, especially, can bring a sense of calm and well being to your working environment. r/EarthPorn is one of Reddit’s most popular communities. Heavily moderated to ensure that only images of excellent quality rise the ranks, the subreddit features stunning user-submitted photos of the great outdoors. Scroll through the top submissions to get some great ideas for a panoramic wall mural, or for your next vacation.
8. Designspiration.net
This aptly named blog curates and organizes excellent examples of design from all around the world. Though Designspiration.net features design of all categories, their selection of wall murals, street art, and interior design is just as extensive as the rest of their collection. Plus, the site is incredibly well organized. Search through their many tags, create an account to save your favorite designs, and even indicate your preferred color scheme. The site functions with the ease of Pinterest, but with a much more sophisticated collection of content. The result for the user is an effortless and inspiring browsing experience.
9. TheInspirationGrid.com
Another online design magazine, the Inspiration Grid showcases individual projects and artists of all mediums. Launched in 2011, the collection is updated daily and focuses on contemporary and digital design projects. Browse through their extensive illustration, typography, interiors, and architecture categories to see some seriously striking works that could be the starting place for an office wall mural. Each profile features a brief write up of the artist and a link to more of their work, making it easy for you to find more info on the pieces you like best.
10. ArtHistoryTeachingResources.org
Did you know that many of the greatest works of art throughout human history are murals? From prehistoric cave paintings to the Sistine Chapel to the muralist movement that followed the Mexican Revolution, wall murals have a long and artful history. For history buffs embarking on a wall mural project, ArtHistoryTeachingResources.org has put together a fabulous and accessible collection of articles and slideshows detailing different periods in art. Complete with images and suggestions for further reading, AHTR will give you inspiration straight from some of the world’s greatest masterpieces.
11. PanoramicImages.com
Since wall murals can cover a vast amount of space, many designers choose to use wide angle photography as the subject of office wall decor. High quality panoramic photographs can create a striking, lifelike effect when printed onto a wall mural. PanoramicImages.com boasts a collection of more than 300,000 wide angle photographs (some of which are royalty free!) available for purchase and download. The curated collection of wide angle photos include subjects that range from landscape to cityscape to architecture to motion. Printing a photograph of your company’s hometown skyline onto your office wall mural is a fabulous way to establish a sense of place and show some local love!
12. Widewalls.ch
Widewalls is a journalistic online magazine with a focus on urban and contemporary art, with special attention paid to street art and graffiti murals. While they offer year-round coverage of thematically relevant art festivals and exhibitions, the publication is perhaps most prolific in their extensive profiling of urban artists and their works. Each year they amass a list of the 150 best street murals and publish photos of them alongside profiles of the artists. The quality of their curation and writing is top notch, and the top 150 lists are a great place to start if you want to see some of the best and most cutting-edge street murals from around the world.
13. BeType.co
BeType.co is a simple, image-focused blog that posts inspiring examples of typography, lettering, and calligraphy. Equal parts digital type and hand lettering, BeType’s collection shows how well designed script can bring simple words and phrases to life. One of the best things about text and wall murals is that even a tiny sample of text can easily be made large enough to cover an entire wall space. Dig through their archives to see gorgeous examples both big and small, or browse their category tags to see just font collections or calligraphy.
14. Dezeen.com
Dezeen is a popular and award winning digital magazine about architecture and design. Though high quality images certainly feature heavily throughout their publication, Dezeen’s journalistic writing is what truly sets them apart from other online design zines. With both weekly and daily features, Dezeen offers tours of beautiful workspaces as well as researched thought pieces about design trends and innovations. Their insight into design theory makes reading their articles not only inspirational, but thoroughly educational. Check out some of their write ups in the office interiors section to get a glimpse into some of the greatest minds in office design.
15. OfficeInspiration.com
Hamburg-based online mag Office Inspiration has amassed an extensive catalog of spotlights on beautiful offices around the world. They maintain that beautiful and exciting workplace designs make work more fun, more creative, and more productive. As evidence, they showcase some seriously enviable offices from household brand names as well as from smaller superstars. It won’t take long scrolling through their featured offices before you find some stunning office wall murals.
Conclusions
The word “office” too often brings to mind images of gray cubicles, fluorescent lighting, and printer jams. But as creative industries grow, more and more work places are making a point to incorporate inspiring design into their office floor plans. Wall murals are a popular option because of their infinite versatility and their ability to transform vast spaces that might otherwise remain empty. Picking the right mural for your space can seem overwhelming, but with so many wonderful examples to draw inspiration from, you’ll find the mural of your dreams in no time.
Need help designing, printing, and installing your custom office wall mural?
Give us a call at 858.866.6560 or leave a comment below! Our printing and design experts would be happy to assist you. In the meantime, check out our product pages for more information: