Show HN: Explore the Workspaces of Modern Creators
30 points
2 hours ago
| 10 comments
| workspaces.xyz
| HN
skippyfish
2 hours ago
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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.

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ryangilbert
1 hour ago
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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.

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Faaak
14 minutes ago
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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)

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browningstreet
43 minutes ago
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As a creator, you could make and stream that content.
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j45
1 hour ago
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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).

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KellyCriterion
33 minutes ago
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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 :)

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a1o
2 hours ago
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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.

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shen
1 hour ago
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Because it looks better in these photos.
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SubiculumCode
1 hour ago
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Not one creator's workspace is a messy hoard? This is an idealic, oh crap we better clean up before the photographer arrives, fantasy.
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ryangilbert
1 hour ago
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SubiculumCode
1 hour ago
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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?

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tsxng44
38 minutes ago
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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!
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ryangilbert
37 minutes ago
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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!

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graypegg
22 minutes ago
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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.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture#:~:text...

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markus_zhang
2 hours ago
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Would love to see computer engineers or electrical engineers.
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ryangilbert
1 hour ago
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mmooss
1 hour ago
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They have a developers section.
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graypegg
39 minutes ago
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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.

[0] https://workspaces.xyz/p/507-lubos-volkov

[1] https://workspaces.xyz/p/218-tessa-brown

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYUZAF3ePFE

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BorisMelnik
45 minutes ago
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love it! Id love it if you made it like a TinderCard feature
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ryangilbert
44 minutes ago
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Have kicked this idea around!

I should try to add this soon.

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mmooss
1 hour ago
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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.
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ryangilbert
1 hour ago
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A lot of designers are definitely running similar setups right now!
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RIMR
1 hour ago
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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.
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