The Tools on Our Desk This Year
Every January we photograph the desk and write down what earned its place. This year the list was shorter than ever.
We schedule unstructured time on purpose. Some of our best ideas started as an afternoon with no plan and a stack of old magazines.
Every studio accumulates habits it never chose. Once a year we list them and ask whether each one still earns its place.
The first version of anything is a question, not an answer. Treating it that way makes feedback easier to give and much easier to hear.
The finished piece rarely looks like the plan. That is fine; the plan was only there to get us started.
We try to write for one specific reader. When a paragraph confuses that imaginary person, it usually confuses everyone else too.
Related posts
Desk Setups from Our Readers
You sent in photos of where you work. Here are our favourites.
Our Studio Morning Routine, Honestly
Coffee, a closed inbox, and ninety minutes before anyone says a word.
Inside the New Studio, Before the Paint Dried
A look around the room where the next year of work will happen.
Comments · 5
We adopted the no-email-before-ten rule after your last post. Our mornings are so much calmer.
This is exactly the nudge I needed this week. Printing the checklist and taping it above my desk.
Fair point. We went back and forth on that one in the studio.
Do you have a recommendation for someone just starting out? Everything I find assumes years of experience.
Bookmarked. I keep coming back to your posts whenever I get stuck.