As a designer, you naturally spend a lot of time in front of your desk. The first time you see your workspace each day you should have a good emotional response, because it represents you as a person .Not feeling that excited about your workspace? Well let’s give it a try at improving it. It doesn’t take as much effort as you think, and it surely pays off. There are several things you can do to start feeling happier with your workspace. This will also positively affect your productivity, so you’re killing two rabbits with one bullet. Here are some tips I hope you will find helpful.

1. Unclutter

It’s impossible to get a good daily vibe from your workspace when it is overcrowded and messy, so the first step is uncluttering and cleaning the physical environment. Surely there is stuff you should/ need to get rid of. Just make sure you don’t throw sketches that you haven’t developed into practical ideas yet. They might come in handy some day, so find them a place in some drawer you don’t use that often or in a box under your bed.

Remember to clean your desk with a damp cloth from time to time. You shouldn’t forget about dusting and vacuuming around either. I’m aware that it’s not that much fun but it will be easier to focus on your tasks in hand when working in a clean, uncluttered environment.

2. Use recycle bin

It’s a good idea to have a recycle bin near your seat so you can just throw anything there, instead of letting it pile up everywhere. Just make sure you don’t throw away food leftovers in it and forget them there for days in a row, a stinky workspace is not inspirational! Using plastic bags for lining the recycle bin will make it easier to empty.

3. Clean your HDD and desktop

Clean up your hard drive too. For example, how many times have you realized your desktop is full of unnecessary icons? It’s hard to find files when your folders are getting overcrowded with useless things and you know it. Make some time and make sure you organize your folders and files logically and delete the useless files. An antivirus scan from time to time can do no harm either.

4. Organize bookmarks

If you usually find yourself bookmarking lots of links (I myself am a bookmark freak!) look through them from time to time, to delete the ones you no longer need and to sort the ones you still find useful. I find it easier to split them into some categories and make separate bookmark folders for each one – its way easier to find them this way instead of browsing through a long random list. Avoid cluster – it gets annoying and you might find yourself wasting time when you’re in a hurry.

5. Organise your things

Use shelves, boxes, cabinets or whatever you like best to store your things – it will be easier to keep it clean and also easier to find things in a timely, unstressful manner. You might consider labeling the containers you choose to keep the things in. This way, you will know exactly where to put something back after you use it, and exactly where it is the next time you’ll need it, which will ultimately save you time and effort.

If you go for colored folders, you can develop your own organizing strategy of keeping track of your day-to-day tasks. For example, you can use a green folder for “today”, yellow for “tomorrow”, etc. and make sure at the end of the day that the green folder is empty; therefore you’ve solved all your tasks for that day.

Replace sticky notes with the gadget ones on your PC – just add them to your desktop, at least you can be sure that they won’t annoyingly fall off!

Buy an organizer to keep the pens, pencils, scissors, glue and all your other supplies in place.

6. Make your workspace personal

After making sure your desk space is clean, feel free to personalize it. That doesn’t mean overcrowding the place all over again! Just add a bit of your personality and include elements that inspire you and make you smile (it could be artwork, photos that you enjoy).The idea is to make the workspace a place that is friendly, in which you feel comfortable and it should also represent you. It’s a good idea to make room, maybe on a wall near your workspace, for a project of yours that you are particularly proud of. It will be a nice reminder about what you can do if you put your mind into it and focus on the task in hand – motivation is always welcomed!

7. Buy a quality chair

I would also suggest investing in a good quality chair. I’m not saying that you must spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on it, but you should make sure that you can sit on it for hours without experiencing discomfort. Choose one with wheels on the bottom to get around your desk more easily.

At the end of the day, take a little time to put everything in order. Good luck and let your productiveness soar!