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Flow

Last post 27 Aug 2007 by

meredith

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meredith

Describe your general set up for your work space so you can flow better while you work. Is your space a complete wreck? Can you give insight to: Organization or.. Systemizing? Does something set you apart from the typical? Equipment you can't live without? Does any of this really exist or is it all going to flow the same way regardless of how you are set up?

Reply 20 Aug 2007

keith

Or post pictures of your work space.
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Positive or negative. Your comments always help. Just be constructive.

Quote 20 Aug 2007

carly

I am stranded. After leaving my comfort working space at my job in Australia where I had computer at 2.8Ghz 4GB RAM 7600GT Videocard 22" Monitor. Unlimited access to leading stock photography sites, the complete gold collection of licensed Linotype fonts which I had categorised every single font into TheFontThing for easy on demand installation. A nice black leather director style chair and beer whenever I felt like it.

My main things I couldn't live without were InDesign, Acrobat Professional, Pitstop Professional and TheFontThing.

Switch to 4 months later in a blobby flatshare where in London where my desk is my bed, I am working on a spare laptop we brought over which is 600Mhz with 320mb RAM 4mb videocard. I can only run Photoshop for a few minutes at a time before the computer switches itself off. I have self made mouse mat which is a wooden chopping board wrapped in an old shirt to make the surface smooth.

Well needless to say I haven't recovered from my comfort zone yet...I haven't done much designing for a few months.

So in answer to the final question, I am very much attached to my personal work area and find it hard to adapt. It often takes me months in a new situation till I get comfortable and start making things and getting inspired again.

Bad system..

Quote 20 Aug 2007

james

I just got this lap top a few hours ago and likely it will be on my desk in my room overlooking my hideous view of Toronto. :)

I always have iTunes, Photoshop, FireFox, MSN, GTalk running. Thank God I got the better processor...

I try to keep things organized so I'm not all over the place looking for client's information, etc, but when I get a fresh batch of laundry I get lazy on organization. :(

Quote 20 Aug 2007

meredith

We have this little loft type area upstairs and im trying right now to figure out the most "flow-efficient" set up. i'll post up pics once i get everything organized from trying to re-arrange last week. I moved the desk to face the hallway banister and the door to the 2nd bedroom. So now my back is facing the wall behind me (before i was facing the wall) and the front of the desk is aligned with the hall wall, so the hall space goes all the way to the wall to the right where there is big a window - overlooking my what i like to call "McNeighborhood" - I am not making good use of my desk at all. i have random papers all over that i am currently using and a few others that need to be filed away. There's a useless unorganized stand up file folder on my desk to the right that is filled with papers that i want to pretend do not exist. Paper is consuming me and needs to be put in the file cabinet that sits behind me to my right. In that cabinet, I have work files in the bottom drawer along with supplies like sticky notes, pens & printer paper, and personal files in the top drawer. My Printer/Scanner/Fax sits on top of it. Which is presenting a problem connecting to my computer so its going to have to be moved. And it cannot be moved to my now broken desk where nothing can sit on the left side of it except paintbrushes and painting supplies because they are light. To the right of the file cabinet behindme - there is a big chair, and in that big chair, piled high, hundreds of papers folders with tons of paperwork in them, artwork, books, things like a brush and some hair ties.. stuff i have needed at random and haven't been able to put away at the rate i need them. I moved everything around last week .. to see if it could help get me into a better flow because things were piling up and now i don't see any improvement. i guess i have to put forth more effort.

Sometimes i just want to throw everything away and buy cheap light crap. So i can move around easier.

I can't live without: photoshop, wacom pen, outlook, notepad or any word processor (i'm not too picky), music: last.fm or my local music files, some type of ftp program, & firefox. some type of digital camera (even crap ones are okay) and a scanner is a plus but i have lived without one before, i just dont like to.

on a daily basis, I use msn messenger and though i could live without it, it's very useful for quick communication. excel is useful at times too.

i too have a hard time adapting to a new personal work area and being able to create in it in a way that is satisfying to me.

Quote 22 Aug 2007

carly

Sounds like you need some type of clever storage system!

Quote 24 Aug 2007

meredith

aah yes.. a clever storage system, a friday night, sat & sunday project perhaps? (ive been saying this for about a month now).

Quote 24 Aug 2007

carly

It can't be that difficult! Just start with 2 piles to begin with, one of stuff you use regularly, one of stuff you don't. Then chuck all the stuff you don't use in a big box and hide it in a cupboard somewhere. I'm sure that will get rid of most of it!

Quote 24 Aug 2007

meredith

i just need to do it. that's all there is to it!

Quote 24 Aug 2007

carly

This is why it's fun making life in a new country, you just pack a few clothes and leave all the mess back somewhere else!

Quote 24 Aug 2007

fleshylimblessspectacle

My 2 cents:

I organize files in three main folders: pitches/ideas, working on, finished. Each folder has a subfolder for each client or series i am working on and inside those folders i have another set of folders: assets [stock photos, ai files of logos, etc ], docs [ word documents, txt files relevant to the project, etc], versions [ the actual psd or ai files that contain the piece or design].

So basically i move the client's folder to the relevant main three folders as the project moves on. I have found that works pretty well for me. Also when browsing around i tend to take screenshots of inspiring designs and pieces and put them inside a "swipe file" folder for future reference.

I have tried programs to organize my files but i always have found them too convoluted, underwhelming or a total overkill.

As for my system i use a 15" macbook pro [2GB of RAM and a 2.16GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo processor] along with my banged up wacom tablet. I run almost all the time, photoshop, illustrator, flash, safari, adium, transmit, fontbook, itunes, ical and some other programs to batch process files. Also if you are a mac user please do check out quicksilver [the best shortcut and more program you are going to find and it is free]. My workflow would be significantky diminished if i did not have this little gem.

So, yeh, i think that is it.
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Bless,
fleshy limbless spectacle (Trece.)

Quote 24 Aug 2007

keith

I'm still not seeing pics of workspaces!
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Positive or negative. Your comments always help. Just be constructive.

Quote 24 Aug 2007

carly

Where's yours Keith?

Quote 24 Aug 2007

fleshylimblessspectacle

snap, crackel and pop!
----
Bless,
fleshy limbless spectacle (Trece.)

Quote 24 Aug 2007

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