workspaces.xyz
I compiled all of the data from 500+ interviews into one easy to read report: https://workspaces.xyz/gear-report
Pardon my ignorance, but what is this referring to?
First and foremost: HN thrives on intellectual curiosity and discussion so keep that in mind; it's actually a good skill to be critical else we end up going down the road of "who cares about privacy and physical ownership".
I enjoy cool workspace inspiration so I'm leaning closer to your side but the critical discussion has merit in the fact that we end up with "slop" if nobody is bringing anything new to the table (yay I made a pun).
"Cancer killing /b/" and all that. If we spend too much time with kin we become closed off to cool ideas or better ways of advancing us all.
https://www.freundevonfreunden.com/
https://workspaces.xyz/p/70-alex-wilhelm https://workspaces.xyz/p/296-alex-nicolai https://workspaces.xyz/p/337-jason-levin
There is something very interesting about looking at workspaces. As other commenters mentioned? Does your site delve into non-computer workspaces?
there were a handful of artists early on but it really did morph into tech-focused creators (designers, developers, founders, etc) mostly because the early audience and guests pulled it in that direction
Why are these not on the homepage...
Lot of people I know have all sorts of clutter in their workspace. A sticker from here and badge from a conference, a poster, books and notebooks lying around the table. The cluttered chaotic looking workspace has its own aesthetic, indicating a rich experience for the senses and the worker. Things where they should be for their functional aspects not only aesthetic one.
I have a 50 bucks IKEA table with scrathed surface, a screen from 2008 and a chair for 10 bucks I bought from the last companies shut down.
And no, this is not fancy :-D :-D but it does the job :)
I work in a tiny room and the only place a desk fits is in the corner, so I have a small corner desk that fits there, with a ultra wide monitor, but I have to keep the laptop closed because I don't have space on the desk. Also a trackball because it's too cramped for a mouse.
They are usually very pretty and well edited, with impressively done voice overs. They are also usually about aesthetically organizing and displaying an exacting set of objects that can't be changed without breaking out the fulfillment.
I guess aspirational and satisfying to look at, but pretty useless in terms of actual working space organization. Should probably play "A Little to the Left" and get your pattern matching fix that way.
Having been using different supports throughout the years, using the regular stand that come with monitors always felt like a considerable downgrade and the cost of a proper support that you attach to the desk, drill on it or drill on the wall, depending on the necessity of the space, is usually negligible.
I scrolled through 8 pages, and I couldn't find a single one that was even just a little messy.
this is on page 1: https://workspaces.xyz/p/528-sabina-cabrera
The website claims:
> Weekly tours of real desk setups from designers, founders, and builders.
"real"
And they obviously aren't where these people actaully work. The opposite of real is...
NOT A DIG AT THESE PEOPLE! The spaces look great! And clearly, they own all the things listed/shown, so there's nothing disingenuous. It's just a bit of a stretch to say it's their workspace... this is the collapsed superposition of their workspace once you measure it with a photo. They took the photo, sat down, realized the pile of books is now where there arm should be and then entropy takes the wheel.
The few that don't have that manicured aesthetic, I love [1]. The books have been opened, the sticky notes are actually used, pens are in the broken mug, and fun knick-knacks are fully deployed to every flat surface EXCEPT the one you have to put your arms on. Tessa dedicated like 15 minutes to these photos then moved on with her day and got shit done. I get the same feeling from that video of Linus Torvald's "zombie shuffling desk". [2] If he spent, like 3 hours organizing and manicuring this, it could fit in on this site just fine, but he probably has other stuff to do.
[0] https://workspaces.xyz/p/507-lubos-volkov
This whole comment reads as a dig against these people. They like to have it tidy/or they like to tidy up before photographing their desk.
I will try to add some "messy reality" ones as well going forward!
"Brutalist" maybe... I could convince myself of that being a positive trait. The unguided wires and bare deskpad-less desktop is a desk that's honest [0] about the materials making it up.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture#:~:text...
I should try to add this soon.
Many people also like to tidy up their home a bit before they receive guests or groom themselves before going out for the night. No reason to judge them.
Fuck this fake life, I'm out
There's nothing interesting to me about a workplace with a clinically-tidy desk and a LED ring light. I want to see metalsmiths, woodworkers, electrical engineers, etc. Even software occupations often have interesting workspace setups dictated by the nature of the job - for example, many CAD and music / video production setups are eclectic - but these ain't it.
Also noticing a lot more creators on youtube who are metalsmiths, woodworkers, electrical engineers.
Many seem to only have started the past few years, and the rest may have not been presented to me by the algorithm because the algorithm cared to keep me watching and not if I might have diverse interests.
One of the other realities is more and more people are distributed, and having communication be clearer (sound, light, video) is increasingly becoming more common in any field.
The thing that stands out to me about some of these designs is they look great, but not enough show the functionality that needed to be designed as well (organization, storage, etc).
I do agree that I should attempt to share more of the "messy reality" alongside the more staged photos, though.
Mine is a real mess (partly because of ADHD, but not only)
I originally launched Workspaces on April 5, 2020 when world shifted to remote work.
The original idea was simple... interview one person a week, ask them about their setup, publish the photos and gear list.
It's now been 6+ years and 500+ interviews.
Each feature includes workspace photography, a short bio, a full gear list with links, and four interview questions. New issues go out every Saturday morning.
Would love to hear what you think!