Craig Farrall and Brian Yerkes have inspired me to show off my workspace as they have done. Also, many peers, clients, and potential clients ask about my work/live situation as well as what type of equipment I use to design; so hopefully this post can help answer some of their questions.
This is pretty much what I see for 80% of my waking life! It may sound sad, but I love it. This image features several pieces of equipment; an iMac 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB of RAM, an iPhone, a Wacom Tablet; graph paper for sketching as well as post-its and a small notepad for note taking on the phone; a sweet dinosaur cup with ‘James’ printed on it that holds all my pencils, pens, and x-acto knives; an Adleta perpetual calendar, AKG K240 Studio headphones, a swinging lamp, and in the background you can see some of my coats on the wall as well as a REALLY old filing cabinet.
As you’ll notice this features my coworker–whether I like it or not–Armand (the black cat). He likes to hang out and swing his tail in my face as I try to type. Also you can see that behind my chair there is a Dalek print and on the other wall a Jeff Soto print (two of my favorite artists).
The printer and peripheral table. We’ve got a Brother MFC–7820N B&W laser, a Canon i960 inkjet, a Lynksys router, a Motorola cable modem, Vonage adapter, a Western Digital hard drive, and a Swingline stapler!
Under the desk I’ve got a little charging table that usually holds an 80 GB iPod, an iPod Shuffle, a Canon Digital Elph, a TomTom GPS unit, and a Panasonic wireless phone base station with accompanying phone. Next to that is a DAT Optic RAID hooked up to the G4 tower which is the office/household server. There’s also a paper shredder and tons of blank discs down there somewhere.
This one really isn’t my “work” space but it’s what I see next to my desk. Books and a couch; a nice little rest area. There are two more Jeff Soto prints and also an original sketch by Michael Ryan.
So…
What does your workspace look like?
Tags: apple · design tools · equipment · home office · imac · mac · office · tools · workspace12 Comments
My name is James Kurtz III; I am a graphic designer for hire based in Northeast Ohio. Welcome to my website. I invite you to take a look at some work examples in my 
12 responses so far ↓
That’s a nice little space you have there. I might actually set up my studio like that too when I move in to a “real” office.. Saves space putting stuff in front of your desk.. I like it.
Thanks for joining in this little game.
Your workstation looks alot cleaner and professional than mine, and it looks like you have everything you could ever need right there, how I am jealous.
Mark,
Thanks! Yeah, the table in front of the desk helps out quite a bit on space.
Craig,
Haha! Yeah, I pretty much have everything I need within reach so I never even have to get up!
Nice space; mine’s usually a lot messier than that (I’ve learnt that if I leave it in a poor state for a few days, my business partner tidies it for me!).
Sofas are essential: we’ve got one in our studio/office too, and it’s a good place to sit and think away from the glare of the monitor.
There’s a (very small and poor quality) picture of my desk on my twitter feed (http://twitter.com/richardcarter)
Richard,
Love your L shaped desk. I used to have one of those and found it to be an ideal setup for easy to switch back and forth between writing/sketching and typing. However in my current space there just isn’t enough room for that setup.
And I agree, having a couch, or some type of lounge area, is essential to healthy thought.
Thanks for stopping by!
nice lookin’ office James! I need to expand and maybe get a whole room just for design! and a cat! Nice to see a fellow Mac guy’s workspace : )
Thanks Bryan! I see we have the same computer. Nice. Love my iMac.
Hi James,
It’s interesting to see a fellow designers working environment. I note that you are using the new iMac. I was put off buying this due to the glossy screen which not only reflects everything (which I think would annoy me having used matte screen for the last 6 years or so) but also gives an unusual ammount of contrast to images. This is great for watching movies etc but I am interested to know if you have had any problems with colour calibrationand accurate colour display?
Steve
Really liked your set up. neat and chic… have my own home office. still seting up. getting some inspiration from you. thank you!! All the best!!
Steve,
Initially I almost didn’t get the iMac because of the very reason you mentioned and it was certainly hard to get used to at first. But like most things over time it became normal and now when I switch back to my old laptop that screen seems dull and lifeless. Either way you’ll have color calibration issues unless you have some type of calibration tools that scans you monitor once a day (which I don’t at this point). I just make sure that when I spec color for a project that I look it up in a swatch book and that I like it.
Sinlo,
Thanks. I’m glad I could help. Good luck with you new setup!
Looks very nice! You ever sit on that couch?
Ha! You know. I rarely sit on the couch. It’s basically a thrown for the cat.