Workspace of the Week: X-ray back light desk
This week’s Workspace of the Week is Commonhumans’ illuminated desk:
Light on –
Light off –
This week I’m going to let the owner of this office tell the story:
This is my home made x-ray light desk. My Dad and I made it from an old wall hanging x-ray back light that I found at a university surplus store. All we had to do was buy some wall brackets and mount it perpendicular to the wall and now I use it as a light table rather than an x-ray viewer! The light table really helps when I need to do tracing for graphic or interior design, every designer/illustrator should have one. I recently painted the wall to make my desk pop and now my work station is clean and complete! If you are wondering where store all of my stuff, I have a one drawer filing cabinet and a few storage boxes in my closet, most of my work is on the computer to reduce clutter.
Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.
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Posted by Erin on Oct 10, 2008 |
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27 comments posted
Posted by Another Deb - 10/10/2008
Wow, that is so slick it looks like a movie set! Nicely done! I’d love to use that to sort all of the slides I am still trying to get scanned.
Posted by Fit Bottomed Girls - 10/10/2008
That doesn’t even look really it looks so cool. Quite inventive!
Posted by Peter James - 10/10/2008
That’s an incredible setup, especially for a designer, writer, creator. I have to check in to the X-ray thing…love the effect.
http://yinvsyang.com
Posted by Tabitha (From Single to Married) - 10/10/2008
very cool!! And innovative idea too!
Posted by Michael - 10/10/2008
Wow…gorgeous.
Posted by Drew - 10/10/2008
Thanks for all the compliments guys, i really appreciate it!
Posted by Peter - 10/10/2008
Wow, I love the dark wall and the contrast of the desk. Great Job!!!
Posted by Ben - 10/10/2008
I hate to buck the trend, but I’m going to anyway. It’s pretty, but just looking at it is giving me wrist pain.
Ideally, when you’re sitting at a computer desk, your upper arms should hang straight down and your lower arm should extend straight forward with your elbow at more or less a right angle. For me, this means the top surface of my desk needs to sit about eight inches above the top of my chair, and while this may be slightly different for different people I can’t imagine the variation is more than a few inches. Your desk, though, looks to have nearly double that much spacing – I think I would find it crippling to work at.
That said, I do like the creative idea, and I can see it working very nicely for your tracing. The height also seems very appropriate for writing, as I generally find my 8-inch rule for computers leaves a pen and paper much too low for comfort.
Posted by Drew - 10/10/2008
the desk top is 30 inches tall exactly, its standard table height, i haven’t had any problems with it at all.
Posted by Arvin Bautista - 10/10/2008
I feel like the backlighting would just really affect your vision of the monitors and anything else you need to have accurate visual representation of (which, as a designer, is EVERYTHING). There’s a reason even the iMac has started putting a black border around their screens, it’s because the darker the surroundings are versus the brighter the subject, the more contrast it shows.
I recently attempted a similar backlighting scheme with my workspace, and I couldn’t stand how much it impeded my work.
Posted by Some Dude - 10/10/2008
How sturdy is the top? I would have thought it would be rather flimsy and unable to support much weight given that it’s probably a thin sheet of plexiglass. Would it hold a stack of textbooks, or what happens if one were to lean on it?
Posted by Drew - 10/10/2008
Oh yeah, the back-light from the desk is rather intense. The desk itself IS NOT a light source. My eyes would dry up and fall out of my head if i did that. I only keep it on for about 15 – 20 minutes at a time to do a drawing or two then I let my eyes rest.
I have plenty of other light sources in the room for when I am working on the computer.
The desk has 4 sections of light and the picture shows all of them on. When I do trace work I only cut on the two that are left of the computer.
Posted by Drew - 10/10/2008
correction: a primary* light source.
Posted by Drew - 10/10/2008
There are 3 metal structures under the plexiglass, it not flimsy at all. I can stack a good deal of stuff on top of it. Function is just as important as form and I kept that in mind when i had the idea to make this.
Posted by Jeffrey - 10/10/2008
Very sophisticated!
Posted by Arturo Gonzalez - 10/10/2008
Very cool! I love the whole atmosphere and the backlight effect (probably a little bit less intense).
Thanks for sharing.
Art Gonzalez
Check my Squidoo Lens at: Quantum Knights
Posted by Kevin - 10/10/2008
216 ROFLS hardily.
Posted by Luis Fernando Oliveira - 10/10/2008
Dear Erin,
Regarding the Flickr Group, I really feel it needs a strong moderating hand. Just as exemples:
* How many freaking pictures of the BOX of the new mouse one bought must one post?
* What about pictures of screwdrivers’ handles?
* And the the freaking fan of the freaking sound board?
WHO CARES ABOUT THESE THINGS? WHAT IS THE POINT? DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE A LIFE? Group is UNCLUTTERED WORKSPACES.
Please, Erin, do not let it become messy and unattended. Thanks and best.
Posted by Robert - 10/11/2008
It looks very nice, but the monitor on top of the other monitor is definitely NOT ergonomic. It you put your hand straight out from your eyes, the top of the monitor should be below your hand.
Posted by Another Deb - 10/11/2008
I have to agree with Ben about the desk height. I seem to be one of those people who have been troubled by desk height. I have an Ikea Galant desk now, set as low as possible and it is still too high for my arms to type or write correctly. I don’t raise my chair because my feet would not reach, causing back pain and aggravation!
This past year I ended up in physical therapy for rotator cuff issues that could only be traced back to constant work at the desk. I grade papers and type at the 27 inch high level and it is still uncomfortable. My counters at school are 24 inches from the ground and they work great for me.
Posted by heatherk - 10/13/2008
I’d be interested to know the detailed instructions to how the desk was mounted to the wall (exactly what metal supports were used, how they were attached to the wall, etc). I’m not handy enough to figure it out on my own, but I might be able to do it with detailed instructions.
Posted by resonanteye - 10/24/2008
question- so he draws here too? where are his pencils, pens, paper, vellum, erasers, and other detrita of art? where does he keep his tools?
I have a clouttery desk myself, simply because I have a large array of these kind of tools I have to keep at hand. I don’t see ANY of that stuff here. Does he have to get up and fetch his stuff from another room when he’s actually going to work at the desk?
Posted by commonhumans - 10/26/2008
“…If you are wondering where store all of my stuff, I have a one drawer filing cabinet and a few storage boxes in my closet, most of my work is on the computer to reduce clutter.”
Its right there in the description.
Posted by resonanteye - 11/04/2008
So in order to work, he has to get up, and pull a box out of his closet. bring it to the desk/work area, then put it back afterward?
I think this would be a lot more impressive if there was storage and places for the tools right near where the work is done. It’s like a chef keeping the knives in another room.
Posted by Drew - 11/07/2008
My closet is three feet to my left.
All of my paper is in a flat storage. When i need paper i take what i need to work with, i work, and i then put it back in storage.
My tools all fit in the filing cabinet. I reach down, pull open the door, take out what tools i need, work, then put them all away when I’m done.
Its not a hassle and everything is within comfortable working distance.
If the setup doesn’t work for you, I’m sorry… but it works fine for me. I feel the three foot journey to the closet to grab my t-square and some paper is worth it. Rather than having a giant drafting table with thousands of things lying around I would just prefer to have my simple minimalistic looking light table setup. But like I said, it works for me.
Posted by Yuuzaa - 12/23/2008
I love the color and light under the table.
Posted by Kahnrad Awalt - 10/11/2009
That is probably one the coolest workspaces I’ve seen! I love it!
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