A student's desk does more jobs than almost any other. It is where you write essays, revise for exams, attend online classes, play games, eat dinner and video-call home. It is usually small, it is often in a bedroom, and it has to be set up for very little money.
A good study desk won't make you work. It can make it easier to start and easier to keep going. Here is how.
The principle: make starting easy
The hardest part of studying is sitting down. If your desk is covered in yesterday's plates and last week's notes, you have to tidy before you can begin, and that is enough of an obstacle to put it off. A desk that is clear and ready removes the excuse.
So the first rule is that the desk surface is for the task in hand. Everything else lives somewhere else.
The surface
- Keep only what you use every day: laptop or screen, keyboard, mouse, a notebook, a pen, a drink.
- Clear it at the end of each session. Two minutes. It is the most useful habit on this list.
- Use a desk mat. It protects a desk you don't own, gives the mouse a good surface, softens the edge under your wrists and marks out your working area. See desk mats for work.
For a small student desk, the medium mat, 23.6 × 13.8 inches, usually fits best. If you work on a laptop with an external mouse, the small one is enough. See the desk mat size guide and small desk setups.
The screen
- Raise the laptop. Looking down at a laptop on a desk bends your neck for hours. Put it on a stand, or a stack of textbooks, so the top of the screen is near eye level, and use a separate keyboard and mouse. It is the cheapest fix for neck and shoulder ache.
- Arm's length away.
- Side-on to the window. Not facing it, and not with it behind you.
Light
- Daylight is best. Put the desk near a window if you can.
- A desk lamp for evenings. Aim it at the desk, not at the screen or your eyes. A clip-on or clamp lamp saves space.
- Don't work in the dark with only the screen lit. It tires your eyes.
- Cooler, brighter light for study. Warmer, dimmer light for winding down.
Reduce distraction
- Face a wall, not the room. If you can see your bed, your door and your flatmates, you will look at them.
- Put the phone out of reach. In a drawer, or across the room. Out of sight is far more effective than face down.
- Keep the wall in front of you calm. More on this below.
- Use headphones in a shared house.
The wall in front of you
You will stare at it a lot. It should be pleasant and it shouldn't pull your attention.
- One or two calm pieces. Soft, low-contrast art with some depth: a misty landscape, a quiet night sky. They give your eyes a rest without giving your mind something to follow. See what is lo-fi art.
- Save the loud pieces for another wall. The poster of your favourite thing is better behind you or beside you than in front.
- A pinboard or a wire grid for the timetable, deadlines and notes. It keeps paper off the desk.
- Posters hang without damage on removable strips. See how to hang posters without frames.
Blue Mountain Fog, pine trees fading into cloud, is about as calm as art gets. Starlight City, a city under a starry blue sky, is quiet with a bit more to look at.
One desk, two modes
Most students use the same desk for work and for games. It helps to make the two feel different, so that sitting down to study doesn't feel like sitting down to play.
- Change the light. Bright white for study. Dim, coloured light for games.
- Change what is on the desk. Notebook out for study. Put it away for games.
- Close everything on the computer that isn't the task.
A small ritual at the start, clear the desk, lamp on, phone away, tells your brain what is about to happen.
Storage in a small room
- Go up. A shelf above the desk for books and files.
- Go under. A drawer unit or a box for the things you use weekly.
- One tray or pot for pens and chargers.
- Cable clips along the back edge.
Comfort
- Feet flat on the floor, knees at about a right angle.
- A cushion behind your lower back if the chair is poor, which in student housing it will be.
- Forearms level with the desk.
- Get up every half hour or so. A short walk does more for concentration than another hour of sitting.
Make it somewhere you like
You will spend a large part of several years at this desk. It is worth making it a place you don't mind being. A mat you like the look of, one picture, a lamp, a plant. None of it is expensive.
A setup for about $50
- A medium desk mat (about $30).
- One 11 × 14 inch poster (about $14).
- A pack of removable strips and a few cable clips.
Prices are approximate, at the time of writing. For the rest of the room, see dorm room walls on a student budget. Browse the desk mats and posters collections.