Desks. They can be square. They can be round. They can even be somewhere in-between. Some are messy; others organized and systematized right down to the very last detail. You can stand at some, but sit at most. Your desk may house important documents or simply provide you with your own personal workspace. For some, it can be an object that tells others about you, provides them with a snapshot of what you’re all about. Does your desk have pictures of your children on it? Display examples of your or others’ creative work? Perhaps you use it only as a place to sit your computer. Whatever you use your desk for, the fact remains that it expresses something about you, about your individuality. And what you don’t have on your desk can often tell someone just as much about you as what you do.
I find the lack of innovation that the desk has undergone over the years particularly interesting. Especially when compared to the changes and innovation that other office tools and equipment have experienced over time. This is the part of the video that really got me thinking: the future of the desk. The natural progression of technology and “innovation” leads me to suspect that at some point desk developers will start slapping LCD’s and touchscreens onto tabletops. But I think that there’s more room for growth, more opportunities than just the “idesk.” I could foresee a desk design in the future that could be collapsed into a very small, portable size that could be carried between one’s home and one’s work. Or, especially for those creative types out there, a desk that incorporates useful production tools into the very design of the desk itself.
