A Showcase of Minimalist Workstations

Very pretty. But these remind me of an old joke: if a messy desk is the sign of a messy mind, what does an empty desk signify? I cannot believe that this is really what these workspaces look like when they’re actually in use.

Simply amazing.

these are all DEVILS
my pocket are going to burn!!
haha…
LOL
Nice Mac Community

Do you have to be a Mac monkey to have a minamalist workspace?

I prefer #6 cause you aren’t facing a wall in front of you when you ‘re working.

None like mine http://tarifarak.wordpress.com

Inspiring me to change my workstation. Great article.

Nice compilation. Love it

Check these two also: http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?s=a47ed519b89b46c35aa9eadbabb7ddd8&attachmentid=107976&d=1205607993 (I don’t like the glass table much but I like the fact that you have a wide view if you look behind the screen) & http://www.instablogsimages.com/images/2008/06/13/21_dmQPL_58.jpg (I think this is the most minimalistic of all mentioned here).

Cheers

Some nice workstations but I wouldn’t swap my bashed up, untidy desk for anything…always rejected the tidy desk/tidy mind analogy… nonsense!

Nice collection! I can’t wait to get home to start cleaning my desk! hehehe. I’m not sure if i can maintain a clean desk like that hehehe.

I need to work on my desk right now! What a beautiful workstations! THANKS

The 12th (the one with the shelf on the table!) and the last one. The former because it’s always practical to have a workspace with some elevated space to put some things you don’t want to clutter up your main keyboard area (for example – documents, references), and the last because it’s really pleasing to the eye!

Nice.

I can send you a picture of my maximalist workstation if you want.
I’m sure I’d win the contest

One note of interest on these workstations: nearly all feature a Mac. Are there fewer minimalist Windows users? Count me – I’m one.

just loving it!!

This is an amazing list of workspaces! I can’t wait to re-do mine!

These must be the desks of unhappy hipsters.

Ok so why are they all macs ?

Number 10 is really cool… BTW I got the same watches like these on the table

Really cool work places. It should be quite cool to work in such awesome places.

Great workstations indeed. But I think we can’t get rid of paper 100%, as I think that designer might need paper pencil next to it to make a quick sketch of his imagination, and waiting to open some photoshop like software to draw may take time and divert his attention a bit from the main focus of imagination.

@Will Hancock: Considering that Mac’s design is superior to PCs (prettier, more minimalistic) the answer is YES.

So, by ‘minimalist’ you mean people with a clean desk?

My desk look just like these

Bah… my desk is full of papers, food, *looks around* 1990s Star Trek computer game CD-ROMs, a fan, boxes, paper towel roll, books… then again, I’m a back-end coder and not a designer – perhaps that’s why. Hope the clutter doesn’t reflect back to my code…

Mac considereded workstation? hahahahaha

Mac’s are for people who don’t know how to use a “computer”.

Why would anyone drop 3k on something with depressing hardware specs. Sure it tends to have less bugs but Macs have proprietary hardware. I’m sure a PC would run pretty quick if it had proprietary hardware too. I mean you can’t even get the ATI Radeon 2GB card on the Power Mac yet. I guess I’m a gamer and designer so I need raw power too.

Just my opinion. I design on a PC and love it. Never had any issues.

This makes me want to hurt people.

I like the first one because the beautiful lighting glas table. But why only Apple is minimalist?

Yeah, at first looks like a showcase of Mac workstations.
Why is there online one PC? Maybey they’re to poor to have anything other than a minimalist workstation

But nice collection, like it!

If these pictures are to be believed, most web designers own nothing but a table, a chair and an iMac.

Has anyone realized that only two workstations have printers? Not mentioning the lack of cds, dvds, cookies, magazines, papers, pencils, pens.. Ok, it’s minimalistic but.. ain’t a real workstation.

BTW, as Hancock asked before, Does any designer in the world use a Mac? Here, a Mac cost 3 times more than a great PC and it makes me wonder if a Designer is a rich person in the 1st world.

bye!

Boring

Are all these people sponsored by mac or something? yeesh

I actually think that most of these work places are a little bit boring…
where is the creative chaos? A desk with a notebook/desktop screen, that’s it?

Interesting, NOT ONE pc setup

I love all the under-lighting on the glass desks!

I was always a PC guy until I actually sat down and used a Mac properly.

Meaning I learned the features.

Mac is the only choice for intelligent people. I do not know how I lived with a PC for so long.

I work most on my Macbook Pro and iMac but I have a very minimalist Sony VAIO too. I think there were only 2 Windows PCs in this whole gallery. It probably would be a good idea to more equitable.

14 is one of the best in my personal opinion; love all that arm room to move about!

I really like #12.

What about the quad-monitor minimalist Linux group?

c’mon guys, we don’t care about wether it’s a pc or a mac. It’s just beautiful pictures. and whatever you can say, a mac is most of the time more beautiful than a PC…

What I would like to see next is the extreme opposite. What would it look like for messy workstations. Beautifulness of chaos

Note : I have a macbook pro, AND a PC workstation.

It Doesnt Really Matter… I Have a PC… But I use MAC in office…
mac is good, if only i can afford one… hehe.. But I love PC… I am more used to it…
…NICE workstations! I Think you wont be lazy anymore if you’re on one of those..

Cool!!!

I dont think my desk has ever been clean enough to determine if my workstation is minmalist!

surely all the strewn out paperwork and coffee cups are out of frame!?

I agree some are a little dull but others are definitely quite nice.

Do ANY designers use PC anymore?? Am I the only one out there??
I’m trying as hard as possible to not follow that herd…still love my dells and dislike all the macs I’ve ever used.

I have to say, while these look nice, my first thought was “these people spend more time straightening and futzing with their workspaces than actually working.”

I mean, cleanliness and neatness is one thing, but installing black lights under a glass desk just makes me think that person has too much free time and disposable income (which is essentially the same reaction I have to elaborate PC case mods).

Anyone who is actually doing enough design work or coding to be considered serious should (in my opinion) spend more of their free time keeping up with emerging technologies and honing their craft than doing light carpentry.

Very inspiring, I feel working with a clean space is a lot more relaxing. I think a showcase of messy workstations is in order.

ummm…. so… based on these photos, only two in 25 or so computer users are both neat and zen-like while also working on a non-Apple computer. Something is fishy about this…….

MAC RULEZ!

Thanks for all the comments. I think why most of them are Mac workspace’s is generally because Mac’s do look nicer than PC’s.

In order to have workstations like those you have to have places to store your files, paperwork, supplies etc. I run a web store and that generates a ton of paper in the course of a week (though I try to minimize it as much as possible) – at least for me. I would like to see where they keep all their files and how they organize that. Its easy to keep your desk clean if you shove everything in a box under the desk for photo ops.

I always need paper on my desk, beautiful but is miss paper on those desks

nice post most of them are mac lover….rare windows user workstations in it….

Absolutely amazing. I shall have one like them or even better. I love minimalistic stuff. You just get this sense of freedom, and space….

Thanks very much Andy!!!
Gr8 workplaces to enjoy maximum computing.
All are excellent. I will own one of them.
Thanks very much for sharing with us.

So clean! this is a workspace after a busy day i guess, they a good setup

They are very nice, and the lighting on some of them are just purely inspirational. Although, why all Macs?

wow..really inspired..great looking workstations..my workstation won’t be like that..lol…

really great.

Very nice work stations, although as many have mentioned there are a lot of “Macs.” =P

I guess the system one works with largely depends on their personality and taste? xD

I always keep notebooks and pencils/pens by, not everything needs to be done on or started on a machine for me.

fashion over function = carpal tunnel

Nice pics, Andy, but I agree with the sentiment -these can’t possibly be in use at the time the photos were taken. How about getting these workstations pictured while in use? That would be an interesting comparison…

So strange..but is not a workstation by creative graphics? no?

BTW: most of those Desks express a severe lack of creativty imho – is IKEA and the Apple Store where your universe ends? Poor pals.

And the introducing text is nothing more than one opinion (‹No matter what your personal work style, an uncluttered and attractive workspace will improve the quality and efficiency of your work.›)

I know brilliant artists working on Windows boxes from ALDI (which is quite the cheapest supermarket in germany). Really, those guys used to work between pizza boxes and other crap and got awards like Art Directors Club, Siggraph plus a bunch of Animago.

#12 is my own pref, but thats because i like cornerdesks, i had one some years ago. but then we moved and i had no space for it =( i could leave my screen on one end and my paperwork on the other.. now i have a very cluttered desk.. its so clutterd that i barely sit at my desk xD Got a macBook pro (old style) now and i prefer it over a pc, and on my PC i still got linked at my tv it runs ubuntu soo yeaaa no windows for me anymore =)

Hope mine will also look something like these some day. At the moment I even don’t have a workstation – just me, my couch and my laptop…

I agree with carlnunes : it’s too tidy to be able to work on it. Come on! It’s not about how your desktop looks like, it’s about what you do with it!

Nice list. I wish I had such a clean working table

They may look like this on Monday morning, but I doubt they look like this on Friday afternoon.

Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac

very good collection…amazing…

At least there were one intelligent person working with a Logitech keyboard.

The others didnt look as any person could be working at those workstations.
Just pure showing off!

Pathetic!

It’s really nice to see everyone using Mac!!

Think different!

How could u be in any way creative or busy with a workstation like that. Perhaps they’re the workstations of failed designers who are so in love with their macs they don’t get any work done.

I much prefer these http://decor8blog.com/2008/08/29/your-office-make-it-pretty-functional/

I wish I could keep my workstation this clean, mine wont last a day like that.

this is like a dream!!! hahaha

wow all mac’s do you have any other work station setup other than mac’s

wow. those people dont work, this is pure mac user dreamland. i think a workspace must not fit to an design category its what you are doing out of it. believe me all the creative friends i met they never had such a desk. this is just wrong in my opionion. i have a mess always ok, but – but i dont give a crap. it works perfect and the dreamworld i create for my customers or future customers like apple maybe.

lets change the battery of the ipod..

i forgot… number two is against every human rights…

nice article

Funny, reading the title I thought “I bet it’ll only show Macs” and it indeed did… sad, as if you can’t do the exact same work on a cheaper PC, I guess most designers just like to use pretty computers.

Here’s mine:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=193976&id=100000145477320

what do you think?

thanks,

Emanuel

what absolute tosh – no way those desktops are like that normally.

I guarantee there will be at least 1 book, a mobile phone, keys, paper (anyone that doesn’t is a liar) and a pen/pencil.

I clear my desk at the end of the day but during the day I have all sorts on my desk.

I like the setting of #11 and #12 great.

Very interesting post. However, I think there is a difference between intentional minimalism and simple poverty. Thanks.

Surprised this article was printed, depressing images of blank desks and Macs. I use Macs all day and my work space is not blank “minimalist”. Anyone can do minimal. Having a blank minimal space does not give you “taste”. It just makes you a carbon copy of nothing. This article is a fluff piece that is not worthy of MDN. Lets see some real desks where real innovation is happening. Being “minimal” is not impressive to me.

By the way, it is weird that all the pics are Macs. Don’t some of the MDN readers user Windows or Linux?

Nice pictures and all that, but I’m sorry, all of them are staged for the picture.

It’s unreal that a designer’s desk is so ridiculously empty. One thing is minimalistic and another one is dull, practically touching the boundary of blandness. Not one damn notepad, book, pencil cup, coffee cup, paper clip, soda can, car keys, wallet, cell phone (iPhone in its charging dock corroborates the staging statement), Pantone’s color cards…

FFS, just look at the header and footer of this site, that’s how designer’s desk really looks like.

BTW, not all are Macs, thank God:

http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com/uploads/minimalist_workstations/24.jpg
http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com/uploads/minimalist_workstations/28.jpg
http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com/uploads/minimalist_workstations/17.jpg

this is an ad for Apple for sure.

All very pretty and nice. Some looks very sci-fi.
But I think the natural and neutral lit ones are best since you don’t get color bias.

Love the looks of some of the desks, don’t think I could ever have it that clean though,, need some things around to keep me from going crazy!

@ Ben xaxaxa GAmer and designer? Wow!!! As you can see Mac is on most of these pictures. Point? Creative people like creative stuff. And if Vista requires a miracle to run, Leopard doesent and it works like a charm! As we all can see. Wow hows Mac so popular if its just art and not and power??? And when you see a Mac you see the quality not some PC junk made of plastic. Overheating, OMG plastic broken, install driver for this install for that, please wait another 9 h till virus scaning is finished ( cant work cos Vista is using half of ram and now and antivirus), update again (thats 5th in 2 hours), Damn my PSD previews are not shown in Windows Explorer ( Search for something that can display this. Oh pach thi, ok lets see, Registry, blue screen damn and simpe things ), damn you Vista/7 only 3 GB of ram available ( where is that raw power now?) hey lets try 64 bit version (Damn no drivers for all devices)… Is it worth??? No its not. Thats why Mac…

inspired, minimalis, i like..

thanks great collection

Follow up : bland uninspiring and not creative workspaces on display in this so-called article

By the way, I use Macs all day and that has nothing to do with it.

This makes Mac users seem like metro ninnies who are less than truly creative.

Mind blowing that this is an article.

Nice to see my desk in there, for those wondering how it looks after some days (and nights) work, see this:

http://storage.spamkip.com/skitch/IMG_0470-20100204-022902.jpg

Now this is what i call a workstation photoshoot!
Nice!!

It doesn’t have to be Apple to be minimal. I sleep on the floor, work where I sleep.. I have one outlet, no mouse, no chair… I’ve got you all beat.

All Mac, why? sure all mac are simple and minimalist

I wish most clean look and modern type of desk would provide a solution for uncluttered cables or something that would allowed power strip to he hidden. I know IKEA do have those types of desk, but other furniture store, i.e Crate/Barrel, Room/Board, etc doesn’t offer much in terms of cables organization.

Nevertheless, thanks for sharing, it definitely gave me ideas for uncluttered workstation and the urgency to actually do it

Great Collection… Wish my workstation would be as minimal…

These are all very pretty, but I don’t imagine people actually working at these workstations for extended hours. None of them actually seem very comfortable to me. And perhaps that’s the main difference between a Mac person and a PC person.

My own workstation for my PC has very specific things that make sure I stay comfortable when I’m working an 8 hour day. And I have everything handy so that I can easily access paperwork if/when I need to.

So yes, these are quite all “pretty,” but are they really all that functional?

Of course, some of us PC users would ask the same question of a Mac…

@ Matthijs H

Thanks for keeping it real!

Not as inspiring for the “minimal” seeking people, but real work being accomplished, not just an ad for Apple and a blank desk!

This should give people more perspective as they can see some of the restraints and limits you have in your workspace. I imagine it is a struggle to keep it perfectly tidy. Thanks for sharing!

Does anyone work – sometimes – on that workstation?
j.

Mostly poser Macs in poorly lit rooms, yuck.

Beautiful Collection of work places. My own wokrplace is a mess!

Nice post… inspiration to clean up ur desk and here is mine

I really enjoy this kind of posts.

Thanks!

My wokstation is minimalistic every monday and thursday afternoon. Thats when the maid comes by. The rest of the week its a pretty complex station to work in.
I used a PC for years. Then changed for a Macbook about 3 years ago, until it was stolen in last November. When I had to buy a new laptop, I realised that having a Mac didnt really make me more productive or seductive, so I bought a cheap laptop from HP for half the price. It really makes everything I could I wish and is a lot faster then my dear old mackbook. Windows 7 is good enough, doesnt get in your way and theres already a lot of documentation on the web for solving every problem you might have.

Ouw voy a tener que remodelar mi oficina xD

monotonous at best.

Nice work places )

WoOoOoOoOoW
number 10 is very very cool
very cool design

a-ha-ha-ha-ha
there are a lot of Logitech MX Revolution mouse
i have the same mouse

@Ben @Brad why all the haters!? Obviously these people cleaned the clutter before they took the pictures. and as for “no work” and lots of “disposable income”, the disposable income is probably from all the work they get! i’ve seen some of their portfolios from deskography and there a lot better than yours!

Hi, i was wondering if someone could share me the background(monitor) that is in the first pic (the purple pic)…

or it would be useful if u could tell me where can i find it or the name of the background… thx alot =D =D!!!

Here, go to the artists profile and click the “Download” button on your left when you find that picture (he also has many other nice wallpapers). You’ll get a full resolution image.

http://-kol.deviantart.com/

I’m surprised at the small amount of dual monitor.

Jaja, WTF no coffee? Only one photo have a SB cup, what about the rest? Don’t you know that we can’t live without coffee?

I would like to see the same but PC only.

Also I agree with John, almost no one uses double monitor ¬¬

CooooL. I have no words.

I def need this, right now I’m working in my bed

I would love to see Eric Jordans personal setup. See the place that all those flash gizmos and artwork comes from.

Whoo! You cleaned your desk! God for you. Now get back to work.

Amazing!! Most of them are Wireless!

The workstations are so drooling. Hmm I may have a higher end machine and more monitors but the place, oh so clean.

“Failed designers in love with their Macs”? More likely successful designers that can afford the equipment they want and the time to clean up after themselves and create a fun work environment.

Very nice!!

Damn I need a new workstation …lol

Wow, some really beautyful workspaces here! I love how some people create really relaxing offices for themselves.

We at Yummygum recently build our office with minimal and clean mind set. View some pictures at http://www.yummygum.nl/blog/minimal-mindset-in-de-yummygum-office