How I designed a multi-purpose workplace at?home

In my recent staycation, I decided to take a project of setting up my new workspace at home. 

In this article I am sharing my journey and decisions on how I went about creating a minimalistic future-proof computer desk setup. I will share some recommendations and indicate what to look for if you are also thinking about doing the same for yourself.

Pandemic and the need for a workspace at home

COVID-19 turned our homes into working office spaces from all around the world. To an extent that few organizations don't want their employees to come back to offices for work anymore and continue working from home. Well this is convenient for a company; it has a flipside for an employee. As a UX (User Experience) designer, a large monitor and a proper office desk setup really helped in being productive. At home, I constantly found myself struggling to find my sweet spot.

Everyone has their own needs and ways to function to work. All you need a decent laptop, a steady internet connection and a levelled flat surface and a chair to function as a remote employee. But for prolong duration, a decent workspace is necessary to function effectively from home.

So, after camping across various rooms in my house, I finally decided to make the extra room in my house into a small office.

Design Principles

As a designer and a tech savvy individual, I consciously had some principles in my mind while planning to setup the space.

1. Design for Multi-purpose. A setup that enables me to work and pursue current hobbies.
2. Design to Scale. I wanted a setup that was future proof and worked with Windows and Mac.
3. Design to Multi-task. In simple terms, increase the screen real estate. 
4. Design with a Minimalistic Aesthetic. From colours to cables, devices to desk objects. This was the most time consuming and painful goal that I set for my setup. 

How I use my new workspace

????? Work: Video Conferencing

One of the biggest motivations for me to setup my new workspace was to have the ability to multitask while I am in an online meeting. 

We are having crazy number of online meetings these days as we work from home. It is getting increasing difficult to give attention to a meeting and work at the same time with one screen. Also, if you are sharing a desktop you are locked until the meeting is over.

This new setup gives me good focus. As one screen is dedicated for meeting and communication and it frees up other screen for any other work that I might want to multi-task with. Makes managing screens and windows better.

?? Work: Designing 

As my day job as a UX designer, the increase in the screen real estate makes a lot of difference.

With 2x 4K display there are just insane number of pixels that I control for my workspace. 

It's easy on the eyes and managing design files is a lot easier.

I have started working now with a mouse, which is a minor hurdle as I was more comfortable with trackpad and used OS gestures. A small trade-off, I guess.

?? Gaming

I am a console gamer. I have setup my PS4 Pro as a secondary input to my second screen. 

With this setup I enjoy playing all the games in 4K HDR and still have one more screen for game streaming and secondary use.

?? Photo Editing

As a hobbyist photographer, in my workflow, photo editing is an important part of the process to develop the final photo.

For editing, the colour accuracy and access to a wide colour spectrum(gamut) is important to derive the actual accuracy of edits you are making on the image.

I mostly have all my RAW image files in an external storage. The primary screen helps me do the file management and second screen helps me with the actual editing process. 

If you are serious about photography and photo editing, also invest in a good printer.

?? Video Production

Along with being a UX designer, I am also a Motion designer.

Video tools and workspaces get really cramped in smaller screens.

Timeline in a video tool is the key element that help users know the sequence of events in a video project. The Ultrawide Monitors are used by video professionals for this reason. It gives a wide real estate to the timeline, making it easier to manage and edit a video project.

?? Music Production and ?? Writing

I am also a DJ and learning to play on my MIDI controller (Electronic Keyboard). This setup is also designed to keep this workflow in mind as well. Unfortunately, I am still haven't set this up perfectly so no image for it yet. Things to keep in mind for a basic music production setup is to have good desk area, suitable height for your music devices and have a good audio output interface setup. 

For Writing, have good access to natural light in the room and have a flat desk area to keep your notebook on. 

and finally, ?? Entertainment…

As a music lover and a Spotify fanboy, I always have Spotify open in the background in one of my screens. 

For a future proof, and a great movies/entertainment experience in your workspace, choose a 4K HDR display with at least 60HZ refresh rate and pair of good stereo speakers/headphones. So, you can stream any type of content from web in its full glory. 

Now let me dig into the actual setup…

The Screens

I can’t stress enough but say, a good screen/monitor changes everything in a setup. That the only thing that you visually interact the most while using a computer.

I picked up 2x LG 27-inch 4K-UHD — 27UK650 monitors. I found these to be the best fit for the below-mentioned criteria.

1. Size of the Display: I recommend minimum 27-inch
2. Resolution (No. of Pixels): I recommend to at least have Full HD 1080p display for basic work needs
3. A wide Aspect ratio: I recommend at least having a 16:9 aspect ratio for the monitor
4. Cost: Ideally you should account for min 50% of your budget for the displays. Don't compromise in this area

As a gamer and professional working heavily on visuals and videos, I also considered having the display with 400 nits of screen brightness, minimum 60fps(frames per second) refresh rate, wide colour spectrum (gamut), Multiple input ports, separate audio out port and an eco-power saving mode.

So, why Dual screen?

Let me start by saying that yes, this is an unconventional look. As a usual setup and as a designer a dual monitor setup might seem like an overkill.

Pre pandemic, in my office I use to have a single 27-inch monitor connected with my MacBook Pro. 

In most cases I end up using the bigger screen. the MacBook screen usually becomes a dumping place of webpages or unused app windows. 

I was constantly fatigued by my neck movements and change in screen size and position in the extended monitor setup. 

I was ideally looking for a single 21:9 aspect ratio display, but then I couldn’t find a tempting option in my criteria. But I am happy with the dual monitor setup using these LG monitors. The monitors have tiny bezels, making the experience immersive enough with little to no distracting black band in the middle.

Why I use an external display stand?

I picked up Rife desk mount dual monitor stands and arms to fix my monitors to. This stand makes your screens have no legs.

Pros:

1. Infinite control and flexibility on display positions and orientations
2. Clears out desk area
3. Simplified setup — Hides cables and adapters 

Cons:

1. Added cost. Evaluate if you really have a need for changing position and orientation of the screen
2. First time installation and calibration can get tedious

Simplifying the Peripherals setup

Isn’t it true, the image of a new generation MacBook Pro induces much discomfort to the owners who use them? #DongleLife.

My perception toward this issue changed when I started working on this project. I had newfound appreciation for USB-C port and thunderbolt technology. 

Having a thunderbolt port makes so much sense for a desktop setup. 

Why I use a separate docking station?

Motherboards serve the purpose of bridging multiple devices such as monitors, storage, power supply, processor, memory, graphic card, and other peripherals. A docking station is a tiny motherboard that connects to a laptop/MacBook and converts it into a desktop using a single cable with thunderbolt USB-C port connection. 

This is technically the hub of all your connections. This is important as I wanted a clean and clutter-free solution. I could make a full-scale desktop without having a separate CPU box in your setup provided the laptop/MacBook you are connecting is powerful enough.

I picked up the Dell WD19TB thunderbolt docking station with 180W AC power adapter.

Pros:

1. A single cable solution to connect laptop with external devices
2. Inbuilt power supply. No need to connect charger to your laptop/MacBook.
3. Can connect to 3x4K external displays on a single port
4. Inbuilt USB 3.0 and USB C ports to connect more peripherals and USC dongles. Technically supports any USB based devices
5. Works with both Mac and Windows
6. Will support to interface with both future and legacy devices

Cons:

1. Expensive when compared to a cheaper standalone dongle
2. For desk use only, not portable
3. Has a huge power brick
4. The peripherals get disconnected when power goes out

You can find cheaper alternatives too for a docking station. But I was intrigued by the modular design of this dock, making it last longer for my future needs.

Keyboard

I picked up the Logitech K480 wireless keyboard. It was compact, affordable and had a character to it.

Pros:

1. Able to easily switch between three devices with a handy dial
2. The keyboard indicates both Windows and Mac keyboard layouts. Really important!
3. Able to dock my iPad directly in the keyboard for a tiny modular on the go computer setup

Cons: 

1. Doesn't have backlit keys. At night you will need an external light source in the room to function with this keyboard
2. The key travel takes getting use to initially. But this is true for most of the new keyboards

Mouse

I chose the Logitech MX Anywhere 2 as my mouse. It was priced on the higher side due to pandemic, but I found it to be best mouse for my diverse needs. 

Pros:

1. Infinite scroll wheel mode
2. Switch between three devices from the mouse 
3. Comes with Logitech Flow technology. Let you magically transfer files by simply dragging the files from one computer to another one
4. Charges via USB

Cons:

1. On the pricy side 
2. Form factor is small. Not suitable for big hands

Crafting the character of the workspace

I went with a strict monochromatic black and white aesthetics for the setup. I added the dramatic mood lighting to the space that you typically find with the gaming setups. The only other colours that I allowed where chrome and certain shades of grey for various devices that I couldn't find them in black.

Desk and Chair

I really wanted a desk with a natural wood finish on the top. But it was difficult to find one due to pandemic lockdowns. Finally, I found a decent industrial desk with all black finish on Amazon. Find a desk at least with depth/width of 20-inch if you want a comfortable desk area to put things and use it for diverse desk needs. 

I found a decent ergonomic chair on Pepperfry which was in my budget and had all the key supports and dials to configure for a proper posture setup. After display, the next thing you shouldn't compromise on is a chair. A good ergonomic and a comfortable chair makes all the difference between a good workspace vs a great one.

Lighting

I hooked up a generic multi LED strip with a USB controller to get a nice aura mood lighting going on back of my table. Also, I made my desk lamp into a torch light with a smart light put in that can light up the wall, giving enough light to bounce from the back and let you work at night without any eye strain.

I have been a fan of LIFX, an alternative to Philips Hue smart lights. 

Most of the smart lights at my home are powered with LIFX. They work without having a separate hub device on Wi-Fi.

I love their app and their control system for lighting.

Cable Management

One of the stressful parts of the process was to be able to conceal all the cables and wires of the electronics on the desk. I use the spine of monitors and legs of the table to conceal most of the wirings.

I applied a simple formula for my setup. If the device was wired, hide the wire and if the device was wireless, it should be shown on the desk with all its glory. 

This helped me keep things tidy and get the illusion of future to work. Isn't minimalism all about clearing up the clutter. ??

In conclusion

At the start of this project I had thought that once I had planned for the setup, it would take me around a week to get it ready. But it took me three weeks to get everything done. 

I also have a nice bookshelf, an exercise cycle and a window that opens to the garden view. Can’t take away the importance of the other elements of the room too that bring the setup all together into one small home office.

Not to seem preachy, a learning out from this process. Unlike any project you undertake, there are always going to be variables and limitations that you will hit to get to your set vision. But always there is a choice to improvise, to rethink and to learn from the mistakes. I did splurge on several occasion and I did spend hours in this endeavour to over think and plan. But for me that is the rush I enjoy building new things and solving problems.

I had exciting time learning about the computer hardware and the recent technologies which I used to do all the time during my graduation days. I had never thought I would pick up a skill after doing this project and that too in cable management ??.

So, what's next? 

I will start to build my gaming RIG. I have already found a CPU cabinet that will go great with the new setup and I am excited about the project ahead building this up as soon as I find some budget.

All the recommendations and products I have indicated in these articles aren’t paid promotions or reviews. 

I hope this seeded some ideas if you too were thinking about setting up a workstation for yourself. The future of how we work is really going to change from the aftermath of this pandemic.

Here is the complete setup…

Thanks for reading. Article originally published on Medium.