Why Coworking Spaces are Business Therapy for Designers Posted on: July 8, 2014 /
Categories: Current Events
When it comes to coworking spaces for graphic designers, even the downsides
are upsides. Isn't it wonderful when self-serving impulses turn out to actually boost productivity-
e.g., petting office dogs, taking longer lunch breaks, and indulging in second-breakfasts?
Such is the rationale behind coworking spaces: cooperative, pay-by-the-day workplace
options that are serving key roles in the business plans of freelance designers not just in
terms of office space, but in profitability, networking, and savvy advice.
What to Look for in a Design Space: Flexibility, Flexibility, Flexibility If there's one consistency in startups, it's inconsistency-to such a degree that coworking
doubles as the Goldilocks option for best cases and worst cases alike.
Raking in six times what you expected in your first year-or six times less? Outcomes on
either end are among the greatest reasons to consider coworking in lieu of restrictive
lease terms (or cubicles). Want to add another desk or cut your hours from five days a
week down to two? These are options far beyond the bounds of typical leasing, but the
bread-and-butter of coworking arrangements.
Add the fact that either way you're paying only for your share (and not for utilities during
hours you're not there-or, more accurately, for utilities at all), and the prospect for
apportioned budgeting only sweetens further.
Public Spaces, Paired Motives, and Other People's Clients The flexibility to match commitment to demand is nice; having a community through
which to increase demand, nicer.
Collaboration among coworking tenants is really a win, win, win situation; the odds of
finding a complementary freelancer (e.g., coder, writer, photographer) to pair with as a
designer are great, and both parties stand to benefit from the increase in reach, scope, and
input. Meanwhile, the client gains the convenience of having two vendors in one space-
plus any boons in cohesiveness and efficiency that arise from having three-way
communication.
The only potential downside, says Christina Hilliard of Richmond, VA design shop
Campfire and Co., is relinquishing your control over shared, open aesthetics-but that,
too, has an upside:
Designers have a tendency to want to have complete control over their space, which just
isn't really an option in a coworking situation. That said, our business grew much more
quickly because we are in such a public space. People are able to see our process and how
we work with one another and our clients, as opposed to us hiding out in our homes. 2
You Say Happy Hour, I Say Business Therapy Of course, networking within coworking spaces has its motives aside from just profit.
Many coworking outfits maintain active calendars of guest speakers, workshops, and
community mentoring sessions (with the latter occasionally masked as rooftop happy
hours).
Fraternizing with freelancers and entrepreneurs is a real advantage when running your
own business. The more time a designer can spend designing, and not managing finances
or unraveling legalese, the better-so it helps to have people nearby who've gone through
parallel struggles and taken great notes.
Our studio members have become our business support system, explains Hilliard's
graphic design partner Lauren Stewart. It's so helpful to have a group of people
experiencing the same things and sharing tips and tricks. They are there with you in your
challenges and can really celebrate in your triumphs.
Conference Rooms Versus Coffee Shops Finally, there's the prospect of enjoying not just space to work, but space to meet.
Accustomed to meeting your clients in coffee shops-and apologizing when there aren't
available seats? Sounds like a problem that coworking spaces can solve.
Plus, they usually provide coffee for free.
Matt Siegel covers the marriage of design, branding, and entrepreneurship for Graphic Stock
.
Christina Hilliard and Lauren Stewart are the cofounders of Campfire and Co., an
interior and graphic design studio based out of Richmond, Virginia's Marvin Lang
Building (which Lauren helped design).
Tags: designers, media, product, productivity, stock media, stock video, Video Blocks, VideoBlocks, web
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture -Zac Fields, Fox Sports, SVP of Graphic Technology and Integration...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
Why Coworking Spaces are Business Therapy for Designers Posted on: July 8, 2014 / 
