Simple Desks

I’ve been amazed by the quality - and quantity - of the submissions I’ve received. Thanks to all those that have submitted so far. Most of them haven’t been posted yet; that isn’t because I’ve rejected them, it’s because I’ve got so many that it takes a while to get through them all, especially considering how many desks I discover myself.

In general, if you’ve submitted a desk/workspace you can expect it to appear on Simple Desks roughly a week or so after you submitted (give or take a few days). That said, if I really like the submission I might bump it up the queue - so just keep an eye out.

Please continue submitting - I love receiving them, and people love seeing them on Simple Desks. You can do so here.

Once again, thanks to you all.

Thanks for subscribing. It’s very encouraging that so many of you have stuck with Simple Desks; almost the entirety of the old readership still subscribes (that means a lot) and we’re adding more subscribers every day.

Now the important bit:

All RSS subscribers that subscribed before January 5th, 2012 need to update their subscription. Please subscribe to the new feed. The content on the new feed wont be any different, the only change is the new RSS URL. The reason I request you change is because the new feed allows me to manage/track things a lot better - at the moment there’s three different RSS feeds syndicating the same content. Obviously this means I have to do a lot more legwork to ensure things work properly. From now on, the only official feed that will continue to be actively supported is the one mentioned above. 

To reiterate - the feed will have exactly the same content, the only change is the RSS URL. 

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your support.

To those of you that like to follow the site through Twitter, I have good news: @simpledesks is live, and it updates automatically whenever anything new is posted.

I would happily welcome any submissions of your own desks and workspaces.

Remember, they don’t need to be pretty. They don’t even need to be devoid of mess. As long as they portray something of worth they belong on this site. 

Thanks guys.

When Pat closed Simple Desks, there was a lot of frustration over his decision to delete the entire post archive, preventing his readers from enjoying them in the future.

Well, I’ve got some good news: I was able to archive the majority of these posts before they disappeared completely. Due to the time limitations I was working against, I focused on saving the best posts, and to that end I archived roughly two thirds of the back catalogue. 

Starting today, a few times a week I will post these (in chronological order) on the new Simple Desks. For quick access, all these posts will also be collected in The Vault.

I hope you enjoy them.

First off, I want to thank Pat Dryburgh for his thoughtful, interesting and tasteful work on Simple Desks throughout its lifetime. It’s a shame then that here the old saying proves true: all good things must come to an end. Most of you reading this will know that he ended his involvement with this venture on January 1st 2012. He explained his decision in an excellent blog post, and raised a lot of great points so well that I doubt I will be able to match his eloquence with the reasoning behind my decision:

Simple Desks is back.

There’s something deeply intimate about someone’s desk. Each photo tells a story in its own way. For some, it is simply a place to work. For others, it is where they create. Their most brilliant ideas and most painful failures will be shaped there. When you look upon photos of such desks, you are gazing through a window into their life, their personality, their world. Sometimes, that on its own is utterly compelling.

They don’t have to be seen that way. Some desks don’t have much of a story to tell, so pristine that they seem unnatural. This isn’t a bad thing - such photos are still of value. Sure, they might be wholly unattainable. But what’s wrong with that? Sometimes it’s just nice to look at something beautiful - simple as that. And on a purely practical level, such photos might even tell a shorter story of their own regarding the relationship between minimalism and productivity if you’re that way inclined.

You be the judge - desks, like most things, mean different things to different people. View them as simple photos to be admired, or as meaningful pieces of art. Neither is wrong; just experience them the way you want - as long as you enjoy it, it really shouldn’t matter. 

I hope very much that you can take enjoyment from Simple Desks once more as it continues.

Thanks to you all, and good luck in 2012.