A designer’s work surface can be the most limiting component when working. More surface allows more things to be accessible at one time. We see this in productivity studies that result in employees being issued 17” monitors instead of 15” monitors, dual monitors, larger cubicles, and so on. We see this in the workplace when upper management gets a huge office with a ‘C’ shaped multi-desk arrangement, while the journeyman employee gets a 4’x6’ cubicle. A busy desk makes for a messy employee or an overloaded student. At school in DC, I created a non-invasive, ergonomic addition for my desk that would increase my productivity.

Using the spindle design of the baker’s racks below as a foundation, I cut groves in plywood fins that when weighted on top by my desk’s wood door surface, would lock into place. Then using the fins as backbone-like ribs, I screwed a sheet of semi-porous material down to act as a shear plane. That surface that would support pinned up reference material instead of overloading my desktop. When feeling overwhelmed by the now doubled amount of information on my desk, I could pull out the center panel.