Simon Veksner: Would you rather the workspace of a prostitute or a currency trader?
September 22 2014, 11:10 am | | 9 Comments
By Simon Veksner, creative partner, DDB Sydney
What is good design?
Good design is design that meets the user’s needs.
Workspace design is no exception.
Let’s hear what a prostitute, a currency trader, and an advertising creative have to say on the subject.
9 Comments
Couldn’t agree more, Scamp.
Plus you get fucked while you make someone else rich!
Sad truth. Worked in 5 different agencies and they are all open plan…
Nearly a reason to move to DDB ( if the layout is still the same as it was during my Award school days way back )
You’ve nailed it. Creating ideas needs undisturbed concentration without interruption or distraction. Well, it does for me. Toward the end of my working life the fashion became open plan. We called the new fashion ‘The Call Centre’. So it was time to take my bat & ball and go. I heard the arguments in favour of open plan and thought they were bullshit – dreamed up by management types who, being a little like currency traders, can perhaps function in a noisy environment. I’d like to hear from creatives who actually prefer open plan – and most importantly, why.
brilliant!
Creatives having their own offices were given back in the day when Creatives actually ran the business. When creative teams actually were respected and seen as an investment not a liability. Where thinking and work was proudly displayed on walls. Nowadays, the office is run by suits. Get teams in, get teams out. Get the job done. It’s about process and profitability. It’s sad, but it’s reality.
had my own office, and worked in open plan.
goes without saying which one is better for work.
love getting told: “but we have break out rooms you can use!”
…when they are always being used for meetings.
or when someone bigger and more highly paid than you commandeers the space and kicks you out so they can call their mistress.
Even though offices are open plan and designed to increase collaboration and communication across departments the truth is the invisible walls and office politics are more at force than ever
Open plan is the least productive way to work at all for a creative. Constant stream of interruption, and very hard to get away from your desk to get any real work done.
Reminds me of a quote, ‘When you see creatives playing ping pong, laughing and sharing a joke or sneaking out for a couple of hours, that’s when the real work is getting done. When you see them at their desk behind a computer, they’re generally wasting time or answering your emails.’
Which brings me to another point – when did email replace common sense? Every fucking suit just forwards emails from the client without stopping to think of the impact it will have on timing or how retarded the feedback is.
Keep open plan and ban email.