Architect's TOP 10 Desk Setup Mistakes
desk setups are so much more than just a place to work because they're one of the only places in your home where ergonomics Personal Taste and functionality meat so in this video I want to share with you my top 10 desk setup design mistakes and how to fix them from over a decade's worth of experience working at a desk both as an architect and as a full-time content creator now it's important to remember that with desk setups form and function are two things that need to go hand in hand but unfortunately it's all too easy to be inclines to lean further one way than it is the other as you may find yourself falling into a group of people who only care about their desk setups being as powerful and as comfortable as physically possible usually with a sthe of RGB or a group that cares more about the way that their desk setup looks even if it's at the cost of terrible posture back pain and a numb buttock and if you fall into either of these groups this is completely fine as long as you've made an informed and conscious decision as what you do with your setup is completely up to you but I have a feeling that you may be here because you're interested in that magical middle ground that has the best of both worlds both in terms of sheer performance and beautiful Aesthetics first up one big mistake that I often see is with video lighting as this is something that's easy to overlook completely by relying on just the harsh ceiling lights that our homes tend to come with and so because of this what I've noticed is that when people start looking into lighting for video conferencing or streaming the tendency is to go for these video Centric LED panels or soft boxes that do perform incredibly well but don't quite look right in a residential setting as they often compromise the overall look of a setup because they take so much attention away from the other more aesthetic items that you may have as a part of your workspace so firstly it's important to understand that the reason that these kinds of Lights tend to perform so well for video calls is mainly because they have a big diffused light source set to a color temperature that renders the most accurate skin tones on camera as when it comes to lighting your face soft Shadows tend to be the most flattering and a daylight Kelvin level ensures that you have the most naturall looking complexion but there's absolutely no reason that a more aesthetic floor lamp can't provide you with 90% of this functionality when pairing them with smart bulbs as these often will allow you to adjust both the temperature and the brightness and if you're really serious you can even buy super high quality video Centric bulbs for regular e27 fixtures too and when using a large modifier like a basic lampshade or purchasing a larger and more decorative bulb you get all of the functional performance that you need for video at cooler temperatures as well as the ability to turn down the brightness and adjust the temperature levels for regular use and what this does is also provide dual functionality by also improving the Aesthetics of your room because it moves this dependence away from the often harsh ceiling lighting that our homes tend to come with by providing a warm dimmable and low-level light source and then if you dot this kind of lighting around the room you can create an incredibly inviting environment which allows you to control different modes depending on how you're using the room which makes them especially effective if you work from an open or shared room like a bedroom hallway or living area now it's probably quite obvious to you already that my preferred style definitely falls into the less is more camp but as an avid PC user my setups in the past have become incredibly complicated and when I think about it I can only boil this down to a severe stomach turning case of gas AKA gear acquisition syndrome which is the obsessive desire to acquire new gear for your specific profession or Hobby in the hopes that it will somehow turn you into a superhero now to a certain extent it's true that a man can only be as good as his tools however the harsh reality is that despite good tools making a skilled Craftsman better they do not make a poorly skilled Craftsman good and this tempting idea of spending money as a shortcut to becoming better often only comes in the way of actually doing the work leaving you with all the bells and whistles but countless hours lost to research and setup which tends to only serve as a distraction to actually making real progress so because of this I've personally come to the conclusion that when it comes to hardware and tools desk setups should be as minimal as possible and especially because I'm someone who obsessively stays up to date with tech and design the more tools I have the more options I have and the more options I have the more I tend to start daydreaming about tweaking my tools in order to make them better however when I limit myself to Only The Bare Essentials I find that I actually end up doing way more work as really it's kind of following this idea of CEOs wearing the same three to four wardrobe items every day as it just means that there's so much less to think about and additionally from a purely aesthetic standpoint Hardware often only diverts attention away from the more aesthetic parts of your room especially when it comes to things like multiple cables and interfaces going into different pieces of equipment so by reducing these you reduce their visual impact on your space and yes this principle even applies to you if the main thing you want to stand out is all of the hard work that you've put into your multicolored pulsating desktop PC but this principle is really most effective if your workspace is shared with somewhere like a bedroom or a living area like this one is because it's likely that you also want to use these rooms to relax which is quite hard to do when all you can see is a mountain of equipment and despite already knowing that certain products like laptops or monitors with integrated speakers webcams and USB hubs will never do their jobs better than their full fat individual counterparts while also usually being far worse overall value I believe the real reason for considering products like these is not only for that tidy aesthetic but for the time and effort that they save too as there's just less to set up less to research and a lot less that can go wrong where for most people troubleshooting and installation takes so much time and effort to get right that it never seems to quite get where you want it to and especially if you have kids or a relationship or a business that you're trying to hold down time is of the essence so having the fewest amount of tools possible that both look great and perform well out of the box becomes invaluable when it comes to ergonomics I've noticed that there are two extremes people who don't prioritize it at all while sitting on a dining chair hunched over a laptop and people who do investing in expensive ergonomic chairs like the Herman Miller Aeron which seems to be standard in almost all of the architectural offices that I've ever worked at but it may be interesting to you that for your own desk set setup both of these might actually be mistakes now it's clear that a chair with good back support will help you avoid back pain and poor posture but what even the best ergonomic chairs don't solve is the problem of sitting being the new smoking where Studies have already shown the long-term effects that sitting can have on your health but the thing is getting up to move every 30 minutes or so in order to counter this is something that's incredibly hard to do if you're in the zone while sitting on a super comfortable ergonomic chair and then additionally from a purely aesthetic standpoint decent ergonomic chairs are often quite bulky expensive and commerciall looking which often tends to clash with Home Furniture like beds rugs and sofas and now I'm not saying that this commercial aesthetic is necessarily a bad thing because they look great when they're in a commercial setting and if you're fortunate enough to have your own office space in your house this isn't a problem that you have to worry about as if you have both the space and the budget having the option on sitting on a perfectly ergonomic chair is definitely nice to have given that you can resist the temptation to sit on it for hours on end without moving however for the large majority of people the solution to these ergonomic mistakes that I found to be most effective in terms of size price and functionality is just using a standing desk and a low profile desk chair now these work together so well firstly because they come in almost every possible shape size and price bracket imaginable and standing desks encourage the natural movement that our bodies are designed for as you tend to find yourself continually shuffling as it's so hard to stand perfectly still for hours on end but regardless of what you choose this still requires resisting the temptation to not sit for too long so this unfortunately still doesn't remove user error however I personally find that by purchasing a chair that doesn't prioritize being 100% comfortable but prioritizes being compact lightweight and easy to slide away this reduces the temptation to sit while also reducing any friction involved that may be in the way of you wanting to stand too while still being more supportive and comfortable than a dining chair while also being less bulky and better looking than an ergonomic chair although you're completely free to disagree and to make sure that I do stand as much as physically possible by having something soft underf foot this reduces fatigue and then by using drawers at either end this is a great way to disguise the more unsightly mechanisms that standing desks tend to have but ultimately ergonomics are highly personal and as everyone has different Lifestyles and priorities take everything I say with a pinch of salt as what works for me might not work for you and of course because I know some of you are going to ask I'll leave links to my favorite products down in the video description another big mistake with desk setups is not allocating enough space or budget for storage Furniture simply because I know it's so easy to get caught up dreaming about the more exciting things while subconsciously draining your budget and filling up your room now depending on your work it's quite likely that you'll have things like hard drives paperwork scanners or camera gear that you all need to find homes for and because these kinds of things aren't usually that pretty to look at by allocating a portion of your budget or an area of your room to a nice closed door Furniture solution this is a great way to stop these items collecting dust and clutching your surfaces now I talked a lot about this idea in my last home organization video so definitely go and check that out if this is something that you're struggling with but really for the most part the main idea is to subdivide and categorize items into separate stacking bins or containers so that they're a lot easier to find while you simultaneously can seal and prioritize the most frequently used items in your workspace in the areas that are the most accessible which makes it so much easier to keep things tidy and for the most part A tidy more budget room is still going to look far better than a messy but expensive one so for this reason investing in furniture that makes staying tidy easy is possibly one of the best things you can do both for your productivity and the aesthetic of your space where investing in something like a good set of drawers can be incredibly worthwhile as they make the back of this unit more accessible and visible because you can pull the drawers outwards which importantly also makes putting things away a whole lot easier and more enjoyable too another mistake is unintentionally creating a cold or uninviting work environment which is usually down to four things color lighting texture and Acoustics now color is the first and most obvious thing to point out as it's really easy to just separate colors into warm ones and cold ones and the main reason that white and gray monochrome spaces tend to feel cold is because they typically take on the cooler Hues of daylight where this absence of color can also lead to an absence in character too making the space feel quite empty sterile and uninviting however in case you didn't notice this setup behind me it's almost completely monochrome because over the years I've simply found that I feel feel more energized in brighter environments where my workstation becomes the only thing with any color or character for me to focus on in order for there to be nothing else competing for my attention however you can still have a bright and minimal setup without it feeling cold and uninviting as monochrome setups tends to take on the color temperature of the light that you put them in where temperature controlled lamps and varied lowlevel lighting can make a huge difference additionally by then adding texture through things like like Furniture plants rugs and curtains these will then soften a space in order to make it feel warmer and also serve a dual purpose in absorbing acoustic reverberations which has a huge impact on our subconscious as to how empty or Hollow a room can feel which isn't always clear when looking at an image or a video through a screen and then by adding some character through personal touches this can break up any emptiness in between which makes for a great and low commitment way to introduce color and texture if these two things intimidate you another mistake is to neglect our own personal wellbeing when at our desk setups where I find that the wellb building standard that's typically used in commercial office projects is particularly useful to me with so many points that are applicable to our homes too particularly in the area of daylight in regards to our well-being Studies have shown that an increased exposure aligns our biological rhythms to the time of day which enhances mood alertness metabolism and overall health and making it more likely that you'll sleep on average 46 minutes longer each night and when considering how much better I feel after a good night's sleep this seems like an absolute cheat code and this is why I always think it's wise to place your workstation near to a window unless for some reason sitting by a window is particularly distracting or uncomfortable for you and when I think about it this is really the reason why I tend to be so inclined to live and work in modern apartment buildings as the windows just tends to be so much bigger than those in larger and older properties but irrespective of whether you live in an apartment or not the size and orientation of the windows and rooms in your home may be wise factors to consider when choosing where to place your setup and then on top of this other than the daylight that we take in through our eyes the next things would be the air that we breathe and the water that we drink where keeping a space for a full water bottle or a water dispenser at your desk is a great idea to ensure that you stay hydrated because this increases cognitive performance and then by using an air purifier this significantly reduces the amount of dust and other particles in your room like pollution and pollen which I found to be a must if you're prone to allergies or if you're a sufferer of hay fever like I am and then finally indoor plants can be another great addition if you live in a drier climate is they can also add moisture and oxygen to the air too while also providing a ton of character and supposedly reducing stress which to me sounds like a win-win that's if you're diligent enough to keep them alive another mistake is just not introducing enough variety into your work environment as it's very easy to get tunnel vision and only focus on the desk setup itself while completely forgetting about the rest of your room now leaving the rest of your space unfinished and somewhat neglected may feel quite insignificant compared to the place where the actual work is done but by including something like a quiet corner with an up Holsted armchair or a size table this can be incredibly beneficial as this not only adds character to the room but also acoustic performance too so not only does this make your space more aesthetic and inviting but you may be surprised to hear that touches like this which add variety also boost your productivity as they provide you with somewhere away from your desk to use for different tasks like emails or creative writing that don't quite require a full desk setup solution and then what using this secondary space can do is reduce the monotony and fatigue of working in the same space every single day while also making any work that you do there more Dynamic and purposeful and I'm saying this because I found that when I move to a different location either in or outside side of the house the purposefulness in doing this provides a really nice bump in productivity as subconsciously I think I tend to be thinking I'm here for a reason so I tend to find myself being a lot more motivated to finish a task too and honestly I was noticing this happening so much that I decided to make the switch to a laptop only setup which takes this to the extreme but even if you work at a static workstation just by including a secondary place to sit this adds variety for you to do things like take very intentional breaks instead of taking them while at your desk and in doing this you build this subconscious relationship with your space in understanding that this is a place where I hustle and this is a place where I slow down and try to be creative and this might just make the room for your setup not only more enjoyable but a whole lot less monotonous too where things like lighting standing desks aroma therapy and even being near a window can all contribute to how energized and motivated you feel because they all follow the same principle of adding variety now quite opposite to not having enough variety is creating a space with too much distraction as obviously having things in your office or beside your workspace for things other than work is never really a good idea however it's really surprising just how much some of us do this as it can not only clutter your setup but also [ __ ] your productivity too which is never really a good thing and this is because having a desk set up right next to an area that you use solely for relaxation creates some cognitive dissonance regarding what you're actually supposed to be doing in this space which often means that you can never actually do either of these things to their full potential and so just as having things like a sofa and TV in your periphery makes life incredibly tempting the same thing really goes for gaming and even watching content as I can tell you firsthand that an all-in-one work/ gaming setup despite being very efficient often led to me taking quick breaks that turned into hours and essentially this same thing is happening if you let yourself Doom scroll or fall down YouTube rabbit holes in the same place where you're supposed to be working and now this isn't to say that you can't do these things if you've got a much stronger will than I have but the main thing here is just to be self-aware about it as I find that I am way more effective when being more intentional with my brakes by actually doing these things away from my desk and so your weakness may not be gaming but instead napping or chatting to housemates or staring out of a window in which case it makes sense to apply this logic and perhaps not put your setup in a bedroom or in the same room as your housemate setup or even next to a window where it might become beneficial to look for alternative Solutions and curate your workspace in a way that reduces the distractions that you know you are personally prone to falling into another big mistake is not taking care of cable management as if your setup has a lot of wires going into different places these can completely destroy the look of even the nicest of setups however if this is you I can relate because doing cable management is the worst but thankfully I found that there are a whole lot of solutions out there for those of us who hate ha it which makes life a whole lot easier one of these Solutions are simply to use cable Nets and Trays that instead of individually clipping wires and squeezing them into cable raceways they allow you to Simply screw them into the underside of your desk and throw wires in there as you please and in order to reduce the amount of power cables that you need to run to your desk buying surge protectors with integrated mounting points allow you to plug everything underneath to which tends to be a must for standing desks and then when it comes to things like ethernet connectivity cable sleeves are another great way to group smaller amounts of cables together in order to reduce their appearance while also modifying their color so that they blend in against your walls and then when it comes to what's on top of your desk for things like charging wireless chargers with multiple charging points do a great job of making things neater and more convenient but because sometimes you just can't help needing a few loose cables lying around for things like file transfers magnetic Clips can be a fantastic option as you can neatly snap them to the back of your desk surface and retrieve them whenever you need to and lastly the final mistake that I want to mention is simply just overcrowding your setup as just like with Furniture it's essential to measure just how much space you actually have to fit it in most commonly I tend to see people making the mistake of buying a desk that's not too too wide but too deep for your room which despite giving you enough space for your monitor and your peripherals a deep desk doesn't always provide enough space to comfortably move around behind it and again the same thing can happen when falling in love with buying your dream desk chair only to realize that it takes up way more space than you first anticipated so in order to avoid this it's essential to check the measurements of what it is you're buying against the size of your room and look for ways that you could perhaps make more space in the space that you already inhabit where items like desk shelves and monitor arms can do a great job in freeing up desk space which allows you to work with a shallower desk and then by using things like wo mounted cabinets instead of drawers and cupboards this frees up additional areas around your desk too and so sometimes just with a little bit of research there can be so many better alternatives to products that we may initially be very drawn to because these Alternatives just use space far more efficiently but speaking of which I found some of the best items for your home office to be from the sponsor of today's video ugreen who in celebration of the holidays recently sent me products from their brand new Uno series where their charging stand makes for a super compact way to simultaneously charge your phone and earbuds with its own USBC Outlet where you can choose to add a compact USBC charger for your specific brand of SmartWatch 2 and then when you're on the the go their 10,000 milliamp hour power bank can provide over a full charge wirelessly to an iPhone 16 as well as stable USBC charging to any of your other devices while weighing only just over 300 G but what's so different about the Uno series is that they feature playful TFT screens that display the real-time charging status of your devices through Emojis with fun expressions in order to add some warmth and charm to your desk setup which makes them a great gift for friends and families with a heartwarming design language that reflects ug Green's commitment to delivering user Centric premium products so be sure to check the ug green Uno series out using the links down in the video description and sign up before January 5th for a chance to take part in their Christmas giveaway and be one of 300 people to win up to $750 in prizes and finally thank you so much if you made it all the way to the end of the video and if you enjoyed it don't forget to sub subscribe and I will see you in the next one
2024-12-28 07:18
