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ericzawo 2 days ago [-]
This is cool but it just promotes the Kinfolkification of the home. And they all look the same / nothing like how me or my colleagues's home setups look. This looks very...... youtube and #aesthetic. Which is fine and there's clearly a market for, but it should include ALL workspaces not just Creatives one which is shorthand for like "Cool guy Creators / streamers / people with Instagrams"
nickt 2 days ago [-]
The should give a one year window and pop round on some random afternoon. Bet they’d look a bit more like a space where work gets done then.
burnto 2 days ago [-]
Love this idea
NetOpWibby 1 days ago [-]
Which is exactly how my desk looks. I keep wanting to tidy it up but meh.
VTimofeenko 1 days ago [-]
> Kinfolkification
Pardon my ignorance, but what is this referring to?
ffsm8 1 days ago [-]
Pretty sure he meant that as a synonym for "samey" - as in they're all of the same archetype of "clean setup"
More about a display case / something meant to look like a workplace vs actually being one.
adammarples 1 days ago [-]
Kinfolk style magazine
Pedro_Ribeiro 1 days ago [-]
Oh my god you people can't enjoy anything. It's just cool workspace inspiration and a place for people to share their setups, can't we just take it for what it is?
Or this one as an example of a YouTube programming creator who uses a teleprompter i think quite cleverly as a way to have his eyes centered on the camera/webcam https://youtu.be/IG-H5poJMvY
3eb7988a1663 1 days ago [-]
This[0] is my personal favorite that was posted on a battlestations page. If it is staged, I think the author is pandering more to the Buffalo Bill demographic rather than tech nerds.
Nice!
And also, sorry if my comment came off as mean about the site. I don't think so at all...I also don't understand why your first comment on the post went dead.
There is something very interesting about looking at workspaces. As other commenters mentioned? Does your site delve into non-computer workspaces?
ryangilbert 2 days ago [-]
not at all! was great feedback and something for me to consider honestly...
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
darth_avocado 1 days ago [-]
I would love to have space like this. Then I realized that every single one of them has house plants, which would mostly not survive if it was me.
nxc18 1 days ago [-]
They’re pretty easy to keep, set a reminder to water once a week and that’s basically all you need to do. Maybe if you want to go crazy, test if the soil is dry first.
the-mitr 1 days ago [-]
To me these work spaces look so sanitised/artificial, bordering on being sterile.
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.
chickensong 1 days ago [-]
I enjoy some battlestation pics, but this feels like an oddly uniform collection that makes me feel like I'm looking at a stock art catalog. I'm not sure if it's a narrow demographic being interviewed, the photos themselves, the presentation, or what. It's kind of eerie.
KellyCriterion 2 days ago [-]
What Im doing wrong?
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 :)
MSKJ 2 days ago [-]
The main thing it having an environment that facilitates you and your creativity. If that works for you, than that works for you
klez 2 days ago [-]
Or simply: that's what fits my home and what I can afford.
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.
blobdole 2 days ago [-]
These remind me of the various YouTube channels I have seen pop up over the last few years focusing on 3d printing and organization, usually of clean workshops or sterile computer desks.
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.
thih9 2 days ago [-]
Victor’s desk[1] was the first that I saw that had some honesty, showing a laptop on a stack of books. Thank you Victor.
I am curious why so many people use Apple Monitors but with a regular stand instead of the VESA mount version so they could use a better support, the stand is clearly not being able to deliver the best position as people seem to use different things to rise them a little more.
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.
shen 2 days ago [-]
Because it looks better in these photos.
markus_zhang 2 days ago [-]
Would love to see computer engineers or electrical engineers.
DAMN it's me and dude who got got by the CFPB for, everyone say it with me, telling everyone that they could get rich if they bought his magic beans! I'm way nicer than him; I don't defraud anyone!!
graypegg 2 days ago [-]
I love the idea! But echoing some comments on here, oh man if the desk-owner takes the desk-photo, you get a lot of branded mugs with the logo facing towards the camera, books neatly stacked in a pile right in the middle of the desk, or (my personal favourite) the iPhone place purposefully upside down centred on the un-scratched cutting mat just downwind from the perpendicularly oriented speed-square/stencil. [0] You never know when you might need an edgeless speed-square at a moment's notice!
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.
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.
lrc 2 days ago [-]
It's like Frutiger Aero come to life
paulorlando 1 days ago [-]
From the results I can see that I am somehow living as a radically messy desk creator. Even my books are not color coordinated or nicely arranged. I will try to do better.
tsxng44 2 days ago [-]
Wow, these made me feel worse about my own workplace. Jokes aside, these workspaces are likely staged beforehand in my opinion. Very interesting though however!
ryangilbert 2 days ago [-]
Most of the guests do indeed stage them or tidy up before they submit their interview.
I will try to add some "messy reality" ones as well going forward!
graypegg 2 days ago [-]
Maybe not "messy reality", honestly my desk is a mess right now and it would be a totally apt description... but I wouldn't want to be in a category called "messy reality"!
"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.
And I have a daily argument with corporate who tell me “nobody uses Macs except you”
metalliqaz 2 days ago [-]
May as well be Mtv Cribs. It's full of impressive looking spaces that are obviously not actually used as they are presented.
ryangilbert 2 days ago [-]
Quote on the bottom of the homepage is a reader saying it's the new MTV Cribs ;)
BorisMelnik 2 days ago [-]
love it! Id love it if you made it like a TinderCard feature
ryangilbert 2 days ago [-]
Have kicked this idea around!
I should try to add this soon.
fastasucan 2 days ago [-]
I dont get why people here are so livid that people like to have a tidy desk and/or tidy up before photographing their desk.
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.
ryangilbert 1 days ago [-]
haha yeah wild reaction to someone tidying up a bit to submit photos of a version of their setup, even if it isn't necessarily the day to day reality.
Biganon 1 days ago [-]
This does not spark joy. Why would I create a nice work environment just to prompt Claude all day long?
Fuck this fake life, I'm out
mmooss 2 days ago [-]
Very interesting, thank you. For designers and similar creatives, I'm surprised that there isn't more artwork. Also, the workspaces - the desks and especially the monitor screen area - are much smaller than I expected.
ryangilbert 2 days ago [-]
A lot of designers are definitely running similar setups right now!
mmooss 2 days ago [-]
Yes, indeed! The similarity across place and profession is hard to believe. Is there some other explanation other than all these people - many professional designers - making the same design choices? Maybe something to do with how they were chosen or what questions were asked or who responded?
RIMR 2 days ago [-]
Oh please, what is with all of these pristine "engineer" workspaces? Every high-powered engineer I know lives in a pile of wires, boards, and monitors that evolves like a living organism.
skippyfish 2 days ago [-]
I find it nuts that "creators" is basically synonymous with "streamers". To add insult to injury, these workspaces appear to be overwhelmingly staged.
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.
ryangilbert 2 days ago [-]
The majority of these creators are actually designers in tech and not streamers at all.
I do agree that I should attempt to share more of the "messy reality" alongside the more staged photos, though.
Faaak 2 days ago [-]
Yeah, id like to see their day-to-day workshops, not the cleans after versions.
Mine is a real mess (partly because of ADHD, but not only)
browningstreet 2 days ago [-]
As a creator, you could make and stream that content.
j45 2 days ago [-]
I totally see what you're saying.
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).
ryangilbert 2 days ago [-]
Hi HN!
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.
Pardon my ignorance, but what is this referring to?
https://theselby.com/
https://www.freundevonfreunden.com/
https://www.worldofinteriors.com/
https://www.instagram.com/apartamentomagazine
https://workspaces.xyz/p/70-alex-wilhelm https://workspaces.xyz/p/296-alex-nicolai https://workspaces.xyz/p/337-jason-levin
[0] https://imgur.com/a/h44Uzw0
Why are these not on the homepage...
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
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.
[1]: https://workspaces.xyz/p/526-viktor-vlahek-ekaeoq
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.
https://workspaces.xyz/collections/developer
( https://computerhistory.org/blog/an-analog-life-remembering-... )
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
https://workspaces.xyz/p/148-austen-allred
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
[1] https://workspaces.xyz/p/218-tessa-brown
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYUZAF3ePFE
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.
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)
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 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!