Ideas for Minimal but Effective Workspace Setups

We put a lot of time and effort into ensuring our workspaces are technically capable of tackling the often high demands we place on them for our photo and video work. Nonetetheless, the visual design of our workspaces can have a major impact on both our efficiency and our enjoyment of the work. This neat video highlights five minimal but highly functional workspaces to inspire your own design.

Coming to you from Matthew Moniz, this interesting video highlights five minimal creative workspaces. If you are anything like me, your desk is a mess of cables, memory cards, hubs, and miscellaneous equipment, and as entropy takes over, it slowly becomes harder and harder to work in. About once a year, I tear down the entire desk so I can give everything an extra thorough cleaning, and in putting it back together, I always put a lot of thought into arranging it in an efficient and pleasing way, and I always notice a major difference in my ability to focus and get things done in an efficient manner. Sure, you do not need to go so minimal that it starts to hinder the function of your workspace, but putting a bit of thought into how things are laid out and how you can minimize clutter can make a nice difference. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Moniz. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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2 Comments

Ugh! As a photographer, I cringe at those colored backlights bouncing off the wall behind the screen. Fashion over function. They'll totally ruin one's perception of color, contrast and brightness when editing images.
My workspace has blackout shades, subdued 5000K overhead lighting, studio gray walls and all black furniture, for almost no reflections and no color contamination.

It's amazing how these set-ups look like they've been taken from ikea catalogues, rather than from a living, working workspace.

Personally, I have at least 4 notebooks*, a paper diary** and an impressive number of pens, pencils and felt-tips.

I also have binders with all my admin in them. Invoices to pay, invoices to file, contracts to sign...

I also have storage cupboards. I've also got storage cupboards for all my battery chargers...

Strangely, I can't see any of this.
Are they really professionals? OR are they hiding the misery on the other side of the camera?

*, **, I'd be happy to explain why I've given up digital notebooks/tablets, and why I've gone back to using a paper diary.