I obsess over my work area. It’s my sanctuary, my personal space for creating eye-catching, powerful, and creative designs. I believe if you want to create awesome work, then your work area needs to be awesome. Of course you could work in a plain 5’x5’ cubicle, but your work wouldn’t be the same. The atmosphere you work in determines how you explore your imagination. The more fun your desk space is, the easier it is to break through the doldrums and create some exciting new ideas.
Here in the Back40 development room we’re allowed, and encouraged, to decorate our areas any way we like. Amy Samuel and Matt Millburn prefer to fill their space with a Paleolithic theme. Matt Johnston filled his space with museum quality video game memorabilia including a Super Nintendo Game System, several game cartridges from Atari to Nintendo, and of course, the infamously impossible to use “Nintendo Power Glove”.
I myself went for the gold and have created the unarguably most awesome desk area in the room. With self-designed posters of Dr. Who’s Dalek and The Rocketeer, some of my own illustrations, action figures of all sort from my childhood, various comic books and graphic novels, and the pièce de résistance: a giant Mr. Stay Puft statue and a Great Gonzo stuffed animal, won out of a claw machine.
If creativity is served by a colorful, fun, and playful workspace, I think we’re prepared for anything.