I just got back from a long day at work-and had a 1 hr discussion with my boss before leaving. We discussed many things like pay and where I see myself and the company in the future.( there are long stories involved in with this place and him) anyways, he goes to me, i have been observing you and it seems that you live out of a box, he further goes on and says you carry everything with you. Like you are always on the go or you are about to go, he goes if I were to walk into your office I wouldnt be able to know its yours nothing “personal” is up or around like a picture of your girlfriend, or family, or any lil gadgets (probably ment toys and things that you keep around-i guess to play with or get inspired by) he said that it just looks like an office space, and he said you should make it have more of a home feeling and he used his office as an example, with family, wife pictures and sculptures, and paintings. he said if someone walked in they could get a sense of who’s place this is. He knows that growing up i moved every two yrs-and that I lived out of a brown cardboard box labeled colored clothes and bags labled toys, but this is who i am.
I dont want to make work home. I want to just go there work and get things done and leave. I dont want to decorate the place, and even if i do, why is this an issue? I bring my company laptop to work connect to the screen there and work in my office, then at the end of the day unplug and carry home.
I told him two weeks ago about a freelance job that i am doing and maybe he saw that as compitition and maybe me leaving so he wants me to make my place at wrk like home so it look like I am staying?
I thought about it the whole way home on subway…
How important is the work out space and what you do or not do with it?
why cant i just go in do my work and leave???
I am looking for opinions and comments-maybe someone has delt with this before-
+++ I have been told not to tell the place that you are currently working at to tell them that you are going to do freelance somewhere else, but because of conflicting schedules between the two, and school, i had two and I feel like it is the best way to do, i wouldnt want him to find out with out hearing from me, I think that would be very disrespectful.
kinda bogus if he is mandating you decorate your workspace. That said - chatchkis from home can take the edge off an impersonal space. If lack of decoration does not affects work then dont worry
Your boss might actually be concerned about you (hey hes human too right?)
You spend so much time at work- more even than you do with your wife and family. So personally I would be concerned if my employee was feeling disconnected from the team. Maybe he is expressing a similar concern.
the thing is at this place I havent spent more time there than at home, I am there (was til the freelance thing at the other comapny) 3 days a week, now I am only in one and i do other assignments at home and email them in the progress or bring it in to the following week.
where my boss is the team is skattered-and also alot of the team or work after i start is done over seas. and communication is done over phone and emails. But The team I think is not the issue, maybe it is, but its pretty solo in a way.( the business is footwear design)
plants, huh, that might work,
I think also I dont fit in too much, everyone is alot older, (i am 21, in school, and they are 35-50) maybe its just an age thing? I am sometimes called the school kid, for jokes, but don’t care.
I personally can’t stand it when people expect you to do things the way they think is right for you. Personally, I like to keep work areas very “work-like” and my home space seperate. Different people work different ways and have different things to motivate and inspire them. If I had family items at work to make it more home-like, it would distract me, and make me want to relax and turn on the tv.
Except for lighting and plants, those help a lot. Nothing worse than flourescents, a good house lamp makes things nicer. But no pix of the little lady at work, sorry hunny.
I would be distracted too. I just want to get my work done and be affective. I don’t think I could be otherwise, especially since I have been this way for so long. I dont even decorate much at home (dorm/apt) no time to nor do i have space too really…
this just kinda pushed a couple buttons-do people like to decorate there spots? I have seen a couple cubicles at my school offices where every inch of the spot is filled with what looks like “happy meal” toys. it looks cool, like a lil Toys R Us, but i couldn’t work like that- How do individuals function like that ? i dunno
I will play devils advocate here. Maybe your boss is concerned that you are not very creative? After all, designers are meant to be creative. Maybe he wants you to show some creativity in your work place, just like the work spaces he sees at other design companies?
By the way this would be a good opportunity to ask him for a new “cool” chair or work station for your workspace!
4 months ago moved into a brand new office and picked out all my furniture and a chair, actually got a sound system put in-the walls are sound proof, but I never use it much, usually use heaphones-If I am going to listen to music.
Hmm challenging my creativity, maybe if i were a interior designer?(joking)
do you think that being creative means that your desk has to have a plant on it and now you become creative…hmm not become-…look and now give of the feeling or mood of a creative individual(just challenging your statement-for conversation purposes)? how is all black creative? yet all, well most designers wear that as a color for there clothing atire. Or is this the look so that you look and give off a feeling of perfessionalism?
At the other comapny they dont seem concerned about this? But I think they would be more impressed by my thought process and creative thinking on assignments than on my floral or picture arrangements… My opinion, but maybe, Do you think you can judge someones creativity off what what they wear or how there desks look at work/…maybe just an example-I just saw the ending of teh project runway and jay won, he was dressed looking like a clown, but yet he won, I dont think he won or would have just off his look he won because of his line, isn’t this how it should be with my work space, it should be judged as who I am just let work speak for it ( maybe that wasn’t a good example)
I dont have the answers really just seeking opinions and comments-thank you for taking an opposition-it makes you think about other maybe possibilities.
Thanks Bryan for mentioning “pieces of flair” – that was all I could think about while reading these posts. dygitalvision, you have seen office space, haven’t you?
You know, there are so many angles from which you can think abou this thing. Some people like others to conform to a certain “office culture”. Some people do find it stimulating to have lots of inspiring, funky stuff around them at work. Your boss may just be passing on something he thinks is helpful. He may be he is worried about you leaving. He may be just talking too much…
It seems totally understandable that when you work there 3 days a week and are still in school, you wouldn’t have too much stuff. When I was in college I didn’t even own much.
I work in a design studio, but in a not-so-creative aspect of it. My desk partner keeps this hideous Norman Rockwell calendar on the wall that his dry cleaners gave to him. It so f*cking revolting. Anyway… lately I have taken to putting blueberries on my cereal (antioxidants, ya know). Long story short, I left work at 2AM one night and left the berries in a drawer, then got sick the next 2 days and the 2 days after that were the weekend. Berries rotted, deskmate flipped out and moved, Norman Rockwell is OUTTA THERE.
So maybe leave some berries in your desk, or put up a Norman Rockwell poster (I have one I can give you) and your boss will lay off the decorating suggestions.
This is an interesting one. It’s become so much of a stereotype that one almost feels forced to wear a black polo-neck in order to reinforce that one’s a designer.
Some might say that the choice of a very simple colour scheme for your clothes indicates some kind of designer’s eye for layout: not too complex, but with enough details to make it clear that the layout has been designed. A black polo-neck is almost a blank canvas: but it has the distinctive feature (the polo neck) which makes it work. A black V-neck sweater does not make you look like a designer.
But I too fall under that, I wear black as almost a safe guard. Like you can’t go wrong with it. what I do like about black is that in a dress situation you can wear a black jean, and a dress shoe and still look professional at work. along a black dress shirt and I am not giving fashion tips, farthest from, but I think what has worked for me when doing the all black thing is to put alot of focus on the shoes, and like if you wear a watch or bracelet, because this I think brings a lil life and a twist to a what can be a normal look.
I just think that its interesting, that designers wear it, and hold to it so strongly as the attire of choice, it must be set in stone somewhere…
honestly, I do not think that wearing all black and having your desk look like some sort of zoo for happy meal toys conveys creativity? My desk is usually a complete mess of paper, sketches, documents, quotes, a gun, books, mags, pieces of this, pieces of that, then their is my famous “pile-of-cups”, usually the paper coffee cups are stacked 3-4 high (I use them to tell what day of the week it is). In my opinion if you work space does not look like my one (an organized mess) you are not doing your job. Maybe I am wrong but there is no way I could function without my mess!