Making your work space work

Look around you -- is your work space the kind of place you look forward to going? Do you have the tools you need to be productive and inspired?

Your work space isn't just your desk -- it's any place you work. A good work space helps make you happier and more productive. Do you like a space that's full of stuff, with everything you might need within reach or easily visible? Or do you like a clean, uncluttered space that offers few distractions?

I was curious: What can you do to make it a more enjoyable and productive place for you to spend your time?

Last week I set up a Flickr group and asked people to share photos of their personal work spaces. I asked them to add notes to the photos to explain what they did to make their work spaces happier or more productive. I was astounded at the response: In just a few days more than 100 people have shared -- and explained -- their work spaces.

One of Tango_hui_voine's work spaces. To see what all the dials and levers do, click here.

Here are some of the work spaces people submitted:

- A train engineer's cabin (see above)
- A personal animation studio
- One of the least cluttered work spaces I have ever seen
- A musical composer's work space
- A garret studio in Paris
- A photography studio
- A physical therapist's office
- A TV control room
- A wall-mounted desk

Take a look and you'll see how people use their walls, floors, windows and even carbonated drinks to remain inspired throughout the day. Here's one of my favorite personal work spaces.

Or you can just go to the group's home page to see everything.

Here are a couple of other work space links:

A 360-degree view of artist Edward Gorey's work space (thanks to Ninth Wave Designs for sharing this).

Read more about work spaces in the visual thinking school module: visual thinking spaces.

If you are already on Flickr, please take a moment to document your workspace in a photo and share it with the group.

If you're not on Flickr yet, consider joining. It's free, and it's a great place to store your public and private photos, categorize them into sets, and share them with your friends and family.