Organising your workspace?

Munnimun

Hey there! New to the forum, figured I'd start it off by asking a fairly general question:

What's your workspace look like? How'd you organise it to increase productivity and decrease frustration (not enough space, too much clutter, tools in the "wrong" places)? Pictures are welcomed!

I've run into the frustration again of everything about my desk feeling "off" and not knowing where to put it all, so any "pro-tips" and inspiration would be so great!

(fairly large L-shaped desk, PC on desk, two monitors, Wacom Intuos Medium + keyboard I never know where to put - use shortcuts, mouse)

lefix

I find an important aspect is having a dedicated workspace. If I work on the same desk/computer that I watch movies and play games on, I find it really hard to focus.

Zack Maxwell

lefix said:

I find an important aspect is having a dedicated workspace. If I work on the same desk/computer that I watch movies and play games on, I find it really hard to focus.

Feh. I watch shows on an extra monitor WHILE working.

Munnimun

Ideally I would prefer to keep those seperate, but as a student with one solid desktop PC I don't have much of a choice but to use it for everything, haha. (I mean, 5 y/o macbook on the side, but can't game on that man).

Zack Maxwell

My workspace also looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.

Munnimun

Oh boy that's a lot, you stream I see? And you've got your Intuos propped up? Someone suggested I do that, but I didn't see how that could possibly be comfortable. How do you use it?

Zack Maxwell

The wacom is attached to this on the right side. What you see in the middle is my old Surface Pro. Having a mounting  arm both frees up space on the desktop, and lets you work at whatever arbitrary angle is most comfortable.
That particular arm is kind of crap, though. I'd recommend this and this instead. That's what I have on the left, and it's much better.
The reach and range of motion on the Fleximount is just a complete joke.

Munnimun

Ah yeah, makes sense! So where do you personally move it to to use it? I'm trying to picture it functioning in my situation but I'm wondering if you drag it over to your desk or leave it hanging mid-air? Does it offer enough resistance so it won't constantly move when you lean into it too heavily?

Might be asking too many questions here, apologies!

Zack Maxwell

I just draw it forward like this.

It can maintain that position easily even during use, as long as you don't lean your whole body against it.
The cheaper Fleximount is fine if you have a small enough desk, and don't need it to reach too far. Better yet if you can actually attach it to the front instead of the side, but I have a glass-surface desk.

Munnimun

Oh that's neat! Very helpful, thank you!

edit: yeah I'm thinking about where I would attach it, I have an L shaped desk (on the right) so I'm wondering if I would be able to attach it to the back of the desk instead and reaching for it that way. Desk isn't wide in that direction, so might work. Probably take lots os measuring though.

(edit2: also running into the problem of amazon not wanting to ship the second item to my country, ameizing!)

Kwramm

I got a small Apple keyboard because it's light and I can easily move it somewhere else when I need to grab my Wacom. That helps a lot with managing the desk space

Dataday

I decided to get an arm for my Cintiq, sadly it wasnt working well with my glass L shaped desk, so I went to Ikea and picked up a wooden table, drilled a hole into it and attached the arm for better support. My  philosphy with workspace is to make them feel as comfortable as possible (less visual stress), "natural" (greens as well as some organic elements) , and fun to be in. Its good to have open space in front of you so its not so "confined", clutter is generally ok around the primary work space.

I have to say I am happy with this set up for now, but as a rule of thumb I like to change it around every couple of years.

Maybe it will give you some ideas.

Bruno Afonseca

My workspace is a standing desk with an orchid and a lamp, lots of light, zero clutter. Pieces of paper so I can scribble stuff on them to help my thinking, and post it notes to leave notes for myself between work sessions

throttlekitty

I like to keep my desk minimal, with desk drawers and a small open-bookshelf-thing* to my left. I guess my "pro tip" for organization is pay attention to your habits for a while and figure out what you actually need or use on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. I've been putting serious thought into buying one of those fancy motorized sit-stand desks for a while, which kind of nixes the whole drawers thing.

*This is kind of an easy copout for putting random crap that I should probably do something with at some point. I see the corner of a hair magazine I bought 6 years ago poking out between some books.

Justin Meisse

@Dataday that's a really nice desk.

Mine is sort of a disaster right now.  I broke my secondary monitor trying to fix some stuck buttons on it and I haven't replaced it since I've been on a electronics kick.

Geezus

My workstation is a mess, and I love it.

There are many types of artists, but I find that most are either extremely tidy and "organized", or chaotic and "messy". Personally, I draw from the chaos and it makes me feel more comfortable. My home is also a hodge podge of different styles, art, and color. My painting studio is a disaster, and my woodshop is a glorious mess of wonderment.

SnowInChina

are these ergotron arms really sturdy so that you can lean your arm on them ?

Zack Maxwell

SnowInChina said:

are these ergotron arms really sturdy so that you can lean your arm on them ?

You can rest your arm on it. I wouldn't use it to actually support myself. That's terrible ergonomically anyway.