In Living Colour

  Up above the streets and houses, rainbow climbing high  

  Everyone can see it smiling over the sky  

  Paint the whole world with a rainbow  

When someone thinks of files they often think of bland beige manila folders or stark white 2001 Filecorp files with the trusty 3 piece Ezi-clip.

But what about colour? What is life without colour? And where does colour fit in files? Colour-coding is not just about preventing misplaced files; it has many benefits and isn’t just for active files requiring recurrent retrieval. Colour coding goes a long way to make sure a file room, particularly one that is accessed by numerous records managers, doesn’t begin to resemble a mutant Liquorice All Sort due to filing misdemeanours.

Here are some reasons why using Zippy, George and Bungle as inspiration for your Filing System is a good idea:

  1. 1. Misfiling. With a properly thought out approach to classification it’s nigh impossible to misfile within a suitably colour coded system: that lime green tab is going to stand out amongst the aniseed wheel manila folders and look like Fozzy Bear is trying to eat Kermit the Frog. Kermit’s leg is easily retrieved and filed in the correct location. #boom
  2. 2. Speed! Channel some Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock and file like the stealthiest, fastest ninja. Your colleagues won’t even know you’ve been filing. When you know that your Legal department files are red (let’s face it aren’t they always?) then finding the right section is easy and you are filing with swift precision. You’re not going to be bedazzled by Engineering with their Magenta files and there’ll be no room for confusion as you stash HR’s vermillion records. You’ll be done so fast that you’ll have time to sit down and have a cup of tea with Mr Braithwaite. #mindblown
  3. 3. Archiving. When we consider archiving, you can plan it out so there is a colour dedicated to each year. Jump to 10 years later and it’s time to kill 2004 files which as it happens are that garish chartreuse that never came back into fashion. Purging each year becomes an exercise in chromatographic release. #win
  4. 4. Security. Security. Security. Specifically, privacy and information security.  As well as avoiding misfiles, colour coding can be used to circumvent errors in exposing sensitive information that may be stored within particular files. If you attach a particular colour to sensitive files, it’s easy for your filing team to identify which files need to be handled with extra care. #stopmakingfilingsoawesome

So go colour coding, and if you need help – contact us!