What Your Filing Cabinet Says About You

Filing cabinets allow people to tidy up messy piles of documents and put them in an order which will allow them to be located again easily. They are a form of desk control, and people who own them are much more organised than those who don’t.

The ability to file and neaten papers (or other objects) gives peace of mind to those who hate working in a messy environment and who want to control their space, circumstances and frame of mind.

There are three types of people who have filing cabinets: Employees, Utilitarians and Creatives. Depending on the type of filing cabinet personality that you fit, there are different types of filing system ideas that you can learn about and implement to improve your life and success in business.

The Employee works in a space where someone else owns the filing cabinet. It is there as a tool to do the job that needs to be done and their personal considerations are not really taken into account.

Employees may grow to like filing cabinets after using them and may develop into Utilitarians or Creatives if they purchase their own filing cabinet.

If the Employee has their own filing cabinet elsewhere, then that is the one that should focused on when referring to this guide.

The Utilitarian views a filing cabinet as a piece of furniture, in which to store stuff in. And that’s pretty much it! They have a lot of stuff and it needs to go somewhere.

They’re not really interested in how their environment is presented (except from a customer standpoint), but they are interested in collecting things, having a neat space in which to work and making sure their day to day life functions smoothly and in an organised manner.

Utilitarians are often business owners, leaders, senior professionals and managers and they are intelligent and adaptive people with successful goals and strategies.

View the Utilitarian Guide.

The Creative sees a filing cabinet as an extension of themselves and one of the many ways in which they can clean up their particular part of the world.

They often think the world is a random, haphazard place and want to control their sphere and circumstances mentally, emotionally and physically.

Creatives take great pride in the colour of their filing cabinets and this is reflected in the style of their whole office and their special way of doing things.

They are creative, spiritual, generous and thoughtful people, who are often business leaders, designers, artists and academics.

View the Creative Guide.

Below is a guide to Utilitarian personality types through their choice of filing cabinet function and colour.

Older style steel filing cabinets were originally mass produced in the millions with the unexciting colours of grey, brown, steel blue and khaki. These institutional colours were used to promote an appearance of functionality, strength, authority, trust and dependability.

People attracted to these colours display similar characteristics, but many Utilitarians are not concerned with the colour at all. They just want something cheap in which to organise their items, as their thoughts are on bigger and better things.

Since Utilitarians don’t worry too much about presenting interesting interior décor, if they invest in other coloured filing cabinets from the standard grey/brown/khaki ones, they are doing it to maintain a professional appearance for others.

Colours chosen usually blend right in to the office, such as black, white, navy or another utilitarian colour that matches the furniture and helps to impress upon the clientele that there is money to be made by talking to them. Usually there is!

Utilitarians who buy professionally coloured filing cabinets are successful in business and aim to win the game.

A Utilitarian who fills multiple filing cabinets with organised files is a great business strategist and is highly organised.

They know what they are doing, can be depended upon to do it logically and enjoy growing their company. They won’t waste money and will make excellent choices when spending it. They make good employers – as they tend to create structured jobs that utilise employees efficiently in their strengths while allowing them to communicate new ideas to management for consideration.

Sometimes these types of Utilitarians can be considered cheapskates, but they are always dependable, know how to succeed in business and can provide adequately for the employees they have.

If you see multiple, messy filing cabinets filled with papers, run! This type of Utilitarian used to be successful in business once – now they are coping with mental issues which have yet to be sorted out.

Often, they appear confused, extremely busy or not all there. Communication can be patchy. Having multiple messy filing cabinets is a sign of things gone wrong or a badly organised business.

If you are expected to organise and clean up the mess, be a nice person and do it because it will help more than you think it will – life will be easier for the people using the filing cabinets, the function of the business itself can improve and the Utilitarian may get peace of mind and may even be able to recover from the disaster.

These are a sign of a genius at work. Utilitarians with neatly labelled items in multiple filing cabinets are busy working on masterpieces, for which lots of items are needed.

Their minds are extremely organised and efficient and the filing cabinets contain all their materials and tools for the undertaking.

These people make exceptional project managers as their attention to detail is outstanding. They also make great scientists, inventors, technicians and engineers and are the backbones of civilised society. Treat them with respect and listen to their wisdom!

This is a sign of a Utilitarian in trouble. They might be a hoarder who can’t get organised or may not be able to afford other furniture. Since they haven’t got around to neatening the contents of their filing cabinets, they may be having an extremely busy, stressful or depressing time in the world. Give them some help where you can, it would be very much appreciated and can make a huge difference in how the Utilitarian feels about their life and where it is going.

Below is a guide to Creative personality types through their choice of colour. It doesn’t matter whether the filing cabinet is messy or neat for Creatives, as they have a much better ability to bounce back from the mess issues faced by Utilitarians.

White filing cabinets tend to belong to people who value purity, simplicity, cleanliness and minimalist styles. Their office looks like something in a magazine layout and their interior decorating skills are truly magnificent.

You will find that white filing cabinets are often combined with healthy looking potted plants (real or fake), sublime designer couches, aesthetic fine artworks and extremely good looking rugs.

People who are attracted to white like very clean and hygienic workspaces, where they are in complete control of the environment and view themselves as the one irreplaceable functioning mechanism to make the whole business happen. Phones are regularly de-grimed, there is a perfumed aroma in the air and their desk doesn’t have much on it. They are the soul of the enterprise and enjoy being generous, kind and thoughtful with others and with money.

White filing cabinet people are popular, strong and intelligent people and can be found in the corporate world as leaders with fantastic people skills. Sometimes, they can be eccentric in personality, but it is a lovable eccentricity.

People with red filing cabinets like to put their stamp on things and make a statement. What exactly the statement is depends on the individual, but since red is a very energetic colour, it can be said that people choosing red filing cabinets either have lots of energy or want to have lots of energy.

Red can be an uplifting, bold colour when placed within interior décor and is often preferred by people who have burning passions, exciting inspirations, a good sense of design and a flair for the dramatic.

You’ll find red filing cabinet people are intelligent, interesting and hard workers. They have more determination to succeed at their goals and thoroughly enjoy exploring different options in life to find the best way to do things. They can be perfectionists, but this is often a bonus characteristic as it drives them to produce their very best.

Orange, green and purple filing cabinets are the sign of a true creative artist at work, not constrained by what society thinks. People who like these colours think outside the box and produce things that are unique contributions to the world.

Their personality is open, friendly and generous and they are excellent at communicating with others, as well as being fantastic with children. Whether or not the filing cabinet suits the décor (and usually it will) orange/green/purple filing cabinet people like to display bold, interesting interiors that are miles ahead of everyone else in terms of trendy picks.

Purple filing cabinet people in particular seem to be of a worldly, bohemian bent, while green appeals to scientists and naturalists. Orange people just love colour and make great designers!

Pink filing cabinet people like to think young and enjoy creativity that stems from the magical feeling of childhood. They enjoy family, children and have a huge amount of curiosity about the world around them.

Their businesses are friendly, appealing, professional and communicate outstandingly with the community through appearance and personality.

People who buy pink filing cabinets are very friendly and chatty, and can create business relationships in an organic manner that others admire.

Black filing cabinets used by Creatives are a sign of an ultimate organiser. They belong to people who have highly regarded taste, amazing creative skills (tempered with amazing business skills) and the ability to make a lot of money.

You’ll find black filing cabinet Creatives in the top tiers of design, arts, communication, marketing and owners of forward-thinking companies in the business world. They are very intelligent, thoughtful, logical and have a great sense of style in their wardrobe, their homes and the way they live.

Black filing cabinet people have outstanding people skills and are smooth talkers. They are very believable and are good at sealing deals. They are excellent at carrying out ventures and projects and also make great project managers for new types of businesses.

People with blue filing cabinets are the dreamers of the Creatives. They have a multitude of inspirations, ideas, thoughts and processes to work with in their box of tools. Their personal characteristics include kindness, patience, thoughtfulness and introspection.

They have the ability to make people trust them and can naturally put people at ease. Blue filing cabinet people are dependable and create beautiful output that shows their intelligent thought process. They are also inspired greatly by the natural world, meditation and reflection as this allows them to explore all areas of their mind for potential wonderful ideas.

While they may or may not be good at interior décor, blue filing cabinet people perform outstandingly as solid team players who can offer sensible advice as well as unique artistic direction in business.

Whether you are a khaki Utilitarian who is highly successful in business, or a Creative bohemian purple filing cabinet owner, your choice of filing cabinet represents your strengths and weaknesses, which you can use to work out your full potential.

Try to keep your filing cabinet(s) as neat as possible as this helps Utilitarians be more organised and Creatives to be emotionally and mentally prepared for business.