Every creative person needs a home base. Whether it’s a bedroom, a home office, or their backyard shed, almost every successful artist needs a specific place where they get most of their work done. The mindset behind this is that artists need to create a consistently and readily available place that will enable them to reach their full potential in creativity. 

The process of creating a workspace that is inspiring and useful in their creative endeavors is fairly simple, but there are a few key factors that can make or break the potential of the space. Here are a few general guidelines that will help you in creating your own creative space! 

Clean and Declutter Your Work Environment

Always make sure that your place of work is clean. This is critical for optimizing your organization and making your space as efficient as possible. Studies have shown that a clean workspace promotes better mental health, higher productivity, and better focus. You can do this in a number of ways: 

Tidy Up Your Desk

If you have random papers from past projects lying around, file them away. If you have dozens of pens and pencils strewn around, put them in a mug or a glass jar. If your desktop is dusty or smudged up from all your past creativity, clean it with a damp towel. 

Maximizing the openness and cleanliness of your desk space opens up your mind and removes unnecessary distractions. 

Clean Your Room

As it turns out, your mom was right. Cleaning your room (or wherever you work) does wonders when it comes to productivity. Removing the clutter from around your workspace helps you to think much more efficiently and clearly, and has the double benefit of removing distractions from around you! 

Dress the Part

If you really think about it, the one work environment that you can’t escape is your own body. So dress in a way that makes you feel confident and self-assured! Even though it’s easy and comfortable to stay in your pajamas all day, getting dressed for creative work will affect your productivity positively. That doesn’t mean you should dress up in a suit and tie every time you walk into your studio, but wear something that gives you confidence and excitement. 

As the old adage goes, “Dress for success.” Canvas Cultures has a myriad of clothing options that will help to inspire your mind and cultivate creativity for all kinds of fashion senses! 

Get Comfortable, But Not Too Comfortable!

Comfort is often the thief of creativity. It causes you to fall back into methods and practices that don’t encourage you to push yourself, leading to dissatisfaction and boredom with your work. You can combat that kind of passivity and lethargy by making changes to your workspace! 

First off, make sure you aren’t too physically comfortable when you’re trying to work. As enticing as it may seem, laying in your bed as you try to do creative work is only going to slow you down and distract you from your goals. Find a place where you can sit up or stand so that you can keep parts of your body physically active and primed as you lean into your creative juices. It also helps to keep you from nodding off, which is always a plus. 

Studies have also shown that working from your bed can result in lower sleep quality, which in and of itself has negative effects on your productivity, creativity, and mental health. Sometimes doing the best thing for your body and mind isn’t always the most comfortable, but learning about the way your body is made to work can help you be much more efficient and healthy. It is incredibly easy to stay in bed, but the benefits that come from making the effort to establish a separate workplace are massive. 

Another important step you can take is to freshen up your workspace by rearranging it. Put your desk on the other side of the room, or move that bookcase to the left a little. Switch around different pieces of furniture. Switch your chair with another one from inside your house. Making these small changes to your workspace will keep your mind from falling into the same routines over and over again. 

Appeal to Your Own Aesthetic

Everyone has a different preferred aesthetic. Some people like warm light; others prefer a neon glow to light up their environment. You might prefer plain white walls, while someone else loves all different shades of pastel colors around them. Whichever it is, figure out what stimulates your creative energy, and make your environment appeal to that! 

One thing that is hugely helpful for setting your own personal mood is light. It’s easier and cheaper than ever to set up color-changing light bulbs in any room, and their effect on the feeling a room has is massive. You can find sets of WiFi and Bluetooth-controlled LED bulbs at many online stores, and they can be controlled by any average smartphone. It’s a small investment that has an incredible effect on your creative flow.

A big part of creating an aesthetically pleasing environment is filling it with art. Here at Canvas Cultures, we have tons of options for creating a workspace that boosts your creative juices. Whether you’re looking for some gorgeous works of art, an inspiring quote, or a beautiful abstract piece, we have something for you! As creatives ourselves, we’re constantly looking for ways to better our own environments, as well as others. 

Remove Distractions

There are few things that kill creativity more than distractions. When creating your workspace, do everything you can to minimize any outside distractions. This can mean: 

• Taking a few minutes to relax your mind and meditate before working
• Putting on noise-canceling headphones
• Turning off the TV or radio
• Putting curtains over your windows
• Temporarily blocking social media sites on your computer or phone

In this modern age, we are surrounded by distractions at every moment of the day. From the notifications on our phones to the endless YouTube spiral we’ve all been down to the endless hours of content on streaming services, it’s near impossible to remove ourselves from things that will distract us from our creative work. Despite this prevalence in our lives, studies show that going on your phone can break the flow of your work and very negatively affect your productivity.

But despite the difficulty that comes with limiting your own phone use, it is doable! It may be hard at first to let go of the constant stream of content that stimulates our brains, but the longer you get away from it, the better your mind will be at focusing and working on the goals you set for yourself. 

Surround Yourself With Inspiration

One thing that inspires many creative people is beautiful art. Canvas Cultures has a massive selection of canvases for anyone who needs a little more color in their workspace. Whether you’re looking for a picture of something natural, a reference to one of your favorite movies, or a visual representation of your favorite musician, we have high-quality canvas prints available for any of your muses. 

If there’s something you want that we don’t have yet, you can always get a personalized canvas designed and created exclusively for you. As creatives ourselves, we know the importance of being surrounded by beauty throughout the creative process, and so it’s our pleasure to help bring the beauty to you! 

Another huge factor in inspiring yourself to be creative is by surrounding yourself with quotes that can help drive you to the finish line. Canvas Cultures has dozens of canvases with quotes on them. These can help remind you why you’re doing what you're doing and give you motivation and encouragement every step of the way. The creative process is long and occasionally discouraging, and having a bold reminder to keep on fighting for what you believe in can make all the difference in a creative endeavor. 

Conclusion

When it comes to creating a creative workspace, everyone has different needs and tastes. You might not work well in someone else’s creative headquarters, and vice versa; other people might find your most productive environment uncomfortable and hard to use. And that’s totally okay! We are all different people, and learning about our personal creative needs and desires is what makes us special and unique. 

Whenever you’re creating a place where you’re going to be working on creative projects, always remember that your tastes and preferences come first. James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem draped his studio’s walls in tin foil to create his masterpiece album, Sound of Silver. It goes without saying, not everyone can work well in an environment like that. But James Murphy listened to what his artistic desires were and did what his body told him. 

Build your creative space with that mindset; do what serves your creative energy best. There are definitely guidelines to help you do that in the best way possible, but always remember that understanding your personal artistic and aesthetic preferences is what will help create that perfect studio, writing corner, or whatever creative wonderland you’re dreaming up. Combine these tips with your own sensibilities, and you’ll be sure to create a workspace that will enable you to accomplish your wildest dreams. 

Sources: 

The Case for Finally Cleaning Your Desk | HBR

If You Simply Must Work From Bed, Here’s What to Consider | Cleveland Clinic

How Your Cell Phone Habits Impact Your Productivity | Psychology Today

LCD Soundsystem's 'Sound of Silver': 10 Little-Known Facts | Rolling Stone