New Year Sale: ‘UnOffice’ Coworking Book is 50% Off Until January 6

Check out our New Year Sale: Our book Working in the UnOffice: A Guide to Coworking for Indie Workers, Small Businesses, and Nonprofits is HALF OFF until January 6!

Over 50 space founders, startups, freelancers, consultants, and nonprofits shared their stories with us working in collaborative workspaces— and we got all their wisdom and tips in one handy guide (378pp). It’s great for those new to coworking, and for those looking to jumpstart their coworking experience.

Use the following coupon codes at checkout at www.CoworkingGuide.com: WITU50MOBI, WITU50EPUB, -or- WITU50PDF.

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Coworking, Creativity, and a Renaissance Master

(Note: This post was originally written for WorkSnug.)

We all know the Renaissance master Leonardo Da Vinci for his accomplishments as a scientist, artist, and philosopher. His Vitruvian Man, Mona Lisa, and countless inventions make him a fascinating figure for scholars, as well as for entrepreneurs, inventors, and artists.

In a new book, author Toby Lester delves into the collaborative mind of Da Vinci, going beyond what we learned about the iconic figure in grade school. An obsessive and rambling notetaker, Da Vinci kept countless notebooks, where he jotted down dense scribbles on art, engineering, anatomy, and mathematics.

What’s less known is that in many of his notebooks Da Vinci kept to-do lists. One of these lists caught the imaginations of science reporter Robert Krulwich and illustrator Wendy MacNaughton, who together translated and illustrated one of Da Vinci’s interesting task lists. (Their annotations are in brackets.)

A quick glance at the to-do list prompts an astounding realization: the renaissance man was also a prototypical coworking member in the making.

Creativity flourishes less in the autonomy of working alone and more in the intellectual checks-and-balances that a room full of smart coworkers provides.

To find out what Leonardo Da Vinci can teach us about coworking, read the full post we wrote for WorkSnug here based on interviews we did for Working in the UnOffice: A Guide to Coworking.

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Designing Communities in Coworking Spaces

(Note: This post was originally written for Shareable.)

Workspaces and offices have long lived under the shadow and influence of the institutional cubicle design: people worked in isolation, boxed-in by their pre-fab walls, or toiled in individual silos with little interaction with fellow workers.

This formulaic layout, the bane of workers around the world, has seen longstanding calls to be redesigned or scrapped all together. Even its designer Robert Propst, regretting its popularity, eventually dubbed it a “monolithic insanity”.

In today’s collaborative consumption economy envisioned by Rachel Bostman and others, coworking spaces have been touted as the revolutionary work setting to spark innovation and the creative exchange of ideas. Much of this is due to how coworking spaces have shown great innovation in re-thinking the physical world of work for independent workers, freelancers, small businesses and organizations, promoting the principles of openness, accessibility, collaboration, and community.

For Working in the UnOffice: A Guide to Coworking, we talked to over 50 startups, freelancers, and organizations. Here’s what we learned:

When shopping for a coworking space, prospective members want to look for a place that provides the creative environment where they can thrive.

Several critical factors for discerning prospective members include the amenities and facilities offered, as well as the quality of the programming and diversity of the community.

Less talked about but just as important is how a space is physically structured and designed.

Do the workspaces look like cubicle clones? Are the spaces well illuminated by good lighting? Are there open spaces for people to congregate and chat? Is the color scheme warm and inviting?

Worrying about aesthetic concerns like wall decor may seem trivial but the right balance of form and function has an impact on how you work and interact with others. Design and layout of a workspace matter. Why? Because it reflects how much a coworking facility values collaboration, which is ultimately what makes coworking spaces great places to work— and an attractive alternative to your windowless basement home office or cramped corner at the local coffee shop.

This means that making the best choice about a space for your business or organization also depends on deciding whether it has the right mix of function and aesthetics. For example, many coworking spaces offer quirky and unique layouts to maximize the entrepreneurial, collaborative buzz so many indie workers want, but also provide members the necessary quiet zones, such as private rooms or booths where members can pop in to make a private phone call or have a quiet chat with colleagues.

Whether or not there is a feng shui to working, here are five questions you should consider when it comes to selecting your coworking space…

Continue reading at Shareable.net…

(Image: Esther Gibbons)

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