When faced with the choice between purchasing a curved desk or a straight desk, which would you go for?
The choice has to incorporate a few key areas, such as which option is most space efficient, as well as employee preferences, but what about which option is more productive?
A productive desk needs to have enough space to work easily, but not a huge amount of excess space either. It also needs to be comfortable, e.g. maybe contoured to the person sitting at it (curved desks or L shaped desks are ideal for this), as well as attractive for morale boosting. Think about a leather office desk, surely that’s a more pleasant option to work at than an old desk that’s falling to pieces? It also needs to be easy to clean, to ensure a durable choice.
So, straight or curved? Curved desks can be used as multifunctional furniture, and also ticks the contour box. This type of desk could be ideal for reception areas, but it does have the downside of being quite large. The productive element of a curved desk is that the computer can be placed in the curve, so the person sitting at the desk will feel supported in that corner. The rest of the desk is spare for other tasks.
On the other hand, straight desks, including bench desks, are the classic choice. These have enough space for the person to work at, and can easily be arranged throughout an office, e.g. underneath windows, etc. The downside is no contouring and that could affect productivity in terms of how the person works.
At the end of the day, perhaps this comes down to personal preference, as every single person works in a slightly different way.
What do you think?