Rhiannon Floyd
1.) What is your name and where in the WWW (Whole Wide World) do you live?
Rhiannon: My name is Rhiannon Floyd and I live in Perth, Western Australia.
2.) What do you do for a living, what pays the bills? And what is the thing you do when you are not doing the thing that pays the bills?
Rhiannon: I’m currently a student, though I do take the occasional freelance web development job, which I did full-time until recently. I’m also an aspiring writer, so when I’m not studying or working, I’m usually tapping away at my keyboard or have my nose buried in a book. I’m a music nerd (I listen to music a lot, and play drums and percussion), enjoy photography (just getting started in street photography), play video games, and have a thing for science fiction TV shows.
3.) How much of what you do, personally or professionally, gets done at the work space featured?
Rhiannon: It’s my home setup and it gets used for study, work and play, so almost everything I do happens right here.
4.) Typically, what time of the day do you normally find yourself at this desk, and for how long? Night owl, early bird?
Rhiannon: I spend entirely too much time at my desk—often from morning until evening—which is something I hope to change in 2011. Switching to a portable Mac and getting an iPad have both helped as they allow me to get away from the desk and continue to study/work/play within a different atmosphere. As much as I love my desk, I think it’s important to get away from it now and then and also regularly spend time away from the screen.
5.) How much of what gets done at your desk is for work, how much is it to scratch your own creative itch?
Rhiannon: It’s always been about 50/50. I’m at the desk for any work or study that I do, but I also use this setup for my creative writing and photography pursuits.
6.) What are the essentials that can be found on your desk more times than not? How about those items just out of reach or out of sight? If it’s not on top of your desk what are the things you most often grab out of a top draw or cabinet?
Rhiannon: First and foremost is my 13-inch MacBook Pro. It’s where everything happens and I wouldn’t have much of a setup without it. On top of my desk are my headphones of choice (currently the Audio-Technica AD700), though for most of the day they’re on my ears instead. Within grabbing distance are my Moleskine notebooks, Fisher Space Pen, camera, iPad and the dead-tree-book I’m currently reading. Otherwise, I like to keep a pretty tidy desk. Anything that’s not meant to be on there gets put away.
7.) What beverage/food/snack can one usually find at your desk, and why?
Rhiannon: I try not to eat at my desk because crumbs are evil, but you’ll often find a glass of water or a cup of tea on the desk somewhere. I’m a bit of a tea nerd. It’s good stuff.
8.) Do you have any reasoning or anecdotes that lend some insight into why your desk is setup the way it is, or the thinking behind certain item(s)? How about the things around your desks? Decoration, wall art, figurines, statues, etc? Any particular reason behind those?
Rhiannon: My desk setup has gone through many different changes over the years. Lately, I’ve been trying to simplify everything and lead a more minimalist lifestyle, which is working out pretty well. My current desk has a reasonably small footprint (necessary for space saving) but can hold a fair amount of a gear. I’ve always held the opinion that a bigger desk means more potential for clutter, so I like to keep things simple and only have and use what I need.
I used to own a 24-inch iMac which I recently replaced with a 13-inch MacBook Pro. This allows me to have three separate devices at my desk (Mac, PC, Xbox), all connected to a single external display. Having a portable Mac also lets me get away from the desk when I need to.
As for decorations and what-not, I have a few too many movie and video game figures and posters, but I’m a huge science fiction geek and like to be surrounded by the stuff that inspires me. Some of my favourites include my Terminator 2 figures, a 20-inch Alien figure on the top shelf of my desk, and a couple of signed Mass Effect lithographs on my wall.
9.) How much of what you do, or aspire to do, influences your desk setup, tangibly and intangibly.
Rhiannon: I’ve always tried to make my setup as efficient as possible for the tasks that I need to accomplish. Over time, my desk setup changed from strictly a place of work to a place of comfort and solitude, where I can work on my creative ideas and also spend time relaxing, listening to music, watching TV shows and gaming. I find it pretty fascinating that as my own personal goals and interests have changed, so has the look and functionality of my desk setup. I’ve been documenting this on Flickr since 2007.
10.) Are you a Mac or are you a PC? What machine(s) are setup and used at your desk? If you are a little bit of both tell us why. How about any other tech gear that can be found at your desk or in your home?
Rhiannon: I’ve been using a Mac every day since 2004 and wouldn’t change that for the world. That said, I’ve also been using and building Windows based PCs since my early teens, so I’m quite familiar with both. But these days the PC (which is very stealthily placed on the left of my chair where you can hardly see it) is used only for gaming and playing Blu-ray movies, and gets switched on just a few times a week. The MacBook, by comparison, is used for everything else and rarely gets shut down.
All of the other tech gear I use on a regular basis includes:
In a setup all of its own is a Samsung 32-inch LCD TV, PS3, Wii and Apple TV.
11.) What’s the one piece of gear you could not live without?
Rhiannon: I’ll give the most cliché answer and say my iPhone. It might as well be permanently attached to my body. It has become this all-encompassing multi-purpose device used for playing music, taking photos, browsing the web, playing games, checking email, taking notes, calendar, calculator, to-do lists, shopping lists, alarms, weather reporting, and everything else. Oh, and it’s an actual phone, too. Yeah, I think I’d be pretty lost without all of that stuff always in my pocket.
12.) What piece of gear cannot be found on your desk, but you wish it could be?
Rhiannon: Right now I’d love a 27” IPS display. Since selling my iMac, I really miss a good high quality screen.
13.) Software; what do you use more often than not. What helps you get the job done? And what do you not use, but hope one day to incorporate in your workflow?
Rhiannon: There’s a lot of fantastic software for the Mac, many of which I rely on day-to day. The apps I use most are Safari/Chrome (the browser battle continues, as does my indecision), iTunes and Mail. More specialized software includes Scrivener for writing, Aperture for photo organization and editing, Yojimbo and Notational Velocity for note taking, Coda for web development, Things for tasks and project organisation, and Twitter and iChat for… well, procrastinating and being sociable.
I can’t think of any apps that I don’t currently use but want to. As with hardware, I like to use just the essential apps to get the job done. I’m often on the hunt for the best, most efficient piece of software for a particular task, and when I find it I tend to use it for many years.
14.) If you could change one thing about your desk, or the room it is currently in, what would that be?
Rhiannon: The cable spaghetti beneath my desk. It belongs in a horror movie. I really need to look for a more permanent solution for cable management. A new chair would be nice, too. Mine’s currently being held together with duct tape. No kidding.
15.) Workspace Breakdown;
Think of as many things as possible that comprise the setup of your office or workspace, anything from the paint color on the walls to the floor mat your chair rolls on, and list them out. Who makes your desk, how about the cabinet next to your desk, your lamp, the overhead light fixture? Anything and everything you can see in the pictures shown, give as much color and background on these items as time and memory permits.
Rhiannon: Other than all the tech gear listed in #10, I also have/use:
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If you would like to learn more about Rhiannon Floyd, her setup, or her work, you can find her at the sites listed below;
RLFloyd.com
Twitter - RLFloyd
GoodReads Profile
3:30PM
Camera.rlfloyd.com
Random.rlfloyd.com
If you have any questions or comments about this, or any other featured setup, or you would like to have your own setup featured here on SetupsandSpaces.com feel free to email me at FValletutti@me.com.
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