Does anyone know where can I find pictures of some design offices? I mean, of the work place itself, the room, the desk, etc.
It would be great to see the difference between places.
Google Images search of design offices produced some good results.
I would also hunt around on design sites…quite often they will show studio shots.
Good idea for a thread betinhow -it would be great to see people post ‘real’ photos from the inside of their offices.
Let’s make a start with some random pics from our office (the ones w/o the confidential stuff):
Cool but it seems a little bit of mess, I’m afraid.
By the way, is your director a Hong Kong people?
The chairs in the first photo is outdated now, which I think should be made originally in China.
How come you guys make the dining-chairs match with the conference table? It’s okay at some time, but yours seems weird.
You’ll find most ‘real’ design offices appear messy in photos. Designers like to have images, mood boards and sample around them for inspiration. Our offices are also a little ‘industrial’ looking as a theme -reconditioned factory work benches as desks, etc.
By the way, is your director a Hong Kong people?
We do have a Shanghai office, but its not pictured. The ‘do not spit’ sign is just meant as a joke -a souvenir from a HK trip.
Remember, these are not brochure type shots -they are just snapshots showing everyday ‘mess’ and I hope other people are candid enough to post their own desks too. Anyone else got a fish tank on their desk?!
The cleanest design studio ever:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/12/1201_nissan/index_01.htm
BUT! I heard the designers are frustrated that the architect didn’t listen to their needs (ie. designers need pin-up space and “stuff!”) Instead she gave them a museum to work in.
I think Paul’s photos are a much better example of a working design studio. Like Einstein said "“If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”
Paul, have you got a separate working studio in your office for prototyping or any other design process? I would be interested to see that if possible.
We’ve got an internal modelshop in each of our offices. In Chicago we about 8 workbenches and several machines, but we don’t have full time model-makers so it’s always a mess. Our German office has full-time model-makers, and they are excellent at what they do. They are trained model-makers with design backgrounds, and are apparently telepathic too. We use them as often as possible.
Our own shop is very important though -it’s great to have a place to experiment in, especially as 95% of what we do concerns hand ergonomics.
I’m not going to show you a photo of our shop -believe me, it’s a ‘creative’ mess! Here’s a shot from our German shop though -they can build full size transportation prototypes like this forklift (this was from back in '98 ).
PaulH…who is the “we” you refer to as your design firm? More succinctly stated…What company do you work for?
TEAMS Design. We’ve got offices in Chicago, Hamburg, Esslingen, Belgrade and Shanghai.
You may not have heard of us -we don’t advertise, just rely upon word-of-mouth, which also creates much firmer client relationships. www.teamsdesign.com in case you’re curious.
I see in your country you segregate the men from talking to the women, too… j/k…
I see in your country you segregate the men from talking to the women, too…
A strictly enforced rule…there are less fights that way.
You’ve done a great detective job, A-Line!
Well done!
just came across this. Marketing offices pics, but still kinda relevant being a sort of creative design industry. funny notes on them too.
A friend of mine just sent this to me:
http://www.damnfunnypictures.com/html/Google-Offices.html
Not a design office, but a pretty cool place to work or not get work accomplished?
Wow! That’s impressive. That is how every corporation should be.
The Nike campus is big and employee-friendly like that, but the majority of the corporations I get to see are the usual drop-ceiling cubicle landscapes that suck the life out of the best of them. Many don’t have windows or any glimpse of natural daylight, which is proven to have long-term detrimental psychological effects.
Gogle takes the cake! Saw a 60 minutes segment on their offices after they got #1 place to work in the US, incredible, it looks awesome withought being to corporaty, like the facility was really designed to have fun… we do have Nintendo Wii, a few XBoxes, and a 3 screen Gran Tourismo simulator on hydralics though… 
are you serious?
R
It looks like college to me, and that’s the point isn’t it?
Knowledge-based companies should strike a better balance between work and play, professional and home life, and should support communication, thinking and creating.
How many of you have dedicated project rooms? (aka war-rooms?)
I really like being able to dedicate a room to a function, but it’s impossible if your building wasn’t set up to do that. The alternative is to buy 4x8 sheets of foam-core and just drag them around…