For me, it all began with a desk mat. I had to turn a small corner of my living room into a home office when I was working from home in the early days of the Pandemic. I wanted a desk mat that wouldn't hurt my desk. I found the cheapest one on Amazon but it was too small. A big one began to pill and tear very quickly.
I began to watch desk setup videos. I have never stopped for the next two years. I watched as more creators entered the space, looking for new ways to help viewers deck out their own spaces. As small creators became big creators, they landed sponsorship deals with the companies behind the products in their videos. There was a certain aesthetic with dark walls and natural wood and Apple products everywhere. I was able to watch after I needed help in my office.
As many people return to the office, DeskTube continues to thrive. The Pandemic has made people more aware of the spaces they occupy and how they can be improved. There is something delightful about seeing someone show you how to maximize their space. The world is chaotic, but in this small part of it, everything can be in its right place. That matters for something.
It's a mainstay of internet culture to show off your workspace. The r/Battlestations and r/ShittyBattlestations are popular places for gaming enthusiasts to find inspiration for their own builds. There are beautiful desks looking out at gorgeous views on pinsy. If you are a creator on the internet, it is a requirement to post the view from your chair so that your audience can picture you on the job. Albert Einstein's desk was an object of interest.
It's not a new phenomenon and it's not a Pandemic created one. One of the best-known desk setup creators says that the first video he did was in 2013 He had spent a lot of time and energy building out a gaming and work desk and thought it would be fun to show people. The first setup tour took about 15 months and included dozens of videos into the life of his channel. Over the course of a year, Tse made another one, with some big upgrades: an Apple display, a monitor, and a Mac pro. That one did the same thing. He was able to make more. More.
He says that he changed his desk so many times that it became crazy. His viewers grew more interested in setup videos, as his channel did. He offered to remake other people's desks if they would allow him to film it. He started buying apartments, renovated them to use as Airbnbs, and documented the process on his channel. He says that his desk setup is easy to set up. I like doing someone else's desk more than my own.
Matthew Encina has been doing desk setup for a long time and started in the same way. His home office was not great when he worked from home more often. He said it was a mess. We used it to store things. Encina took to the idea of turning the space into an office when his wife suggested it. He was more interested in the interior designers like Becki and Chris that he had seen on the internet. I documented it for about two and a half months. I thought about the space, the things I considered, the things I ended up putting in, and how I arranged things based on my use of it.
Encina's video, which he titled "DIY Home Office and Desk Tour," went live while he was on vacation in January of 2019. It had 10,000 views in the first week and by the end of the month it was over 100,000. That video was a smashing success for the third time.
When the Pandemic hit, everyone was in need of a nicer home office and desk setup. Encina changed the title of the video to "DIY Home Office and Desk Tour - Work from Home Setup" The world's second-largest search engine was spiking with "work from home" searches. The daily views on his video doubled. It is the most popular thing on Encina's channel. Do you mean in second place? Work from home office tour
It definitely took off as a result of the Pandemic, but it wasn't invented by them. The last couple of years have seen huge growth due to their setup and video production. New creators started by documenting their own workspace improvements. Brian Wandera has had a few different phases of his home office. The biggest catalyst was the fact that I needed to start YouTube.
The first video I saw in my DeskTube exploration was Encinas video. I've been watching this style of video for years, from Jonathan Morrison's Dream Desk series to Marques Brownlee's New York City Apartment Tours, but Encina's video was the first one that I treated like. I rearranged my cables to fit his style. I bought some oil to make my desk look better.
These videos have been sought out by millions of other people. In the best versions, you can see how the gear looks inside a real space. They will show you how to put it all together. Many people put purchasing links in the video description for things that appear on-screen. According to the creators I spoke with, they are always looking for inspiration and trying to check out new gear to see if there is something better out there.
There is more to these videos than the advice. A time of life dominated by doom, social media chaos, and technology that seems more intrusive and problematic than ever, DeskTube seems to offer a more organized, cozier, more proactive digital life. There is something comforting about watching a transformation when you watch a home-renovation show or the new season of Queer Eye. It feels good to know that things can get better if I just paint this and move that over there. Given how much time we spend sitting in front of a computer, why don't we pay more attention to the kitchen or bedroom?
They can all start to blur together if you watch enough of them. As if all of the internet decided on a single Perfect Home Office, many of them have the same thing. There is a lamp for light in the Perfect Home Office. The sit-stand desk is made of wood. There are a lot of Apple products in it. The keyboard and mouse is probably made by Logitech. There is a good chance that the video was sponsored by the company. If the person you are watching cares about audio, they have the white Audio Engine A2 Plus speakers.
Some questions have correct answers. The one I will recommend is the Logitech MX Master. The platform makes it difficult to build and film a space that works for you but also for the audience. The daily posting of workspace photos gives him a huge amount of data about what people like and don't. He says that they know if people are interested in oak or walnut. Do you think right now? Dark walls are more engaging than light walls. He says that white might come back, but it is mostly dark or white.
Things get even more difficult as sponsors jump into the space. It is a dream of a gadget marketer to have a place where people come for explicit recommendations, where you can casually drop your product as if it is not paid for. It's still seamless advertising even though most creators are good about naming their sponsors. It's hard to know if you're getting the best thing or the thing you're paid to promote or the thing that'll make you the most when you buy it.
There is always one-upmanship on DeskTube. How do you make a video after that one where you say you figured out your home office? The desk accessories are more fancy and the smart lights are more complex. It can be tiring for viewers and creators to be constantly upgraded.
Many creators are trying to figure out how to branch out. Home offices are being treated as more than just a desk and a monitor by many creators. Jon Imperial wants to be more than just a desk setup guy. I want it to look good even without the cameras rolling because I want it to look good even without the cameras rolling.
Others are helping people save money by teaching them how to upcycle an old desk, turn a closet into a charging system, or build a small office in their backyard. Imperial makes videos teaching people how to design their space with modeling software, but the most recent one didn't do very well, which he's sad about. A number of others who are looking for their own apartments to fix up or hunting for friends and family in need of a glow-up have been inspired by the setup makeover series. "I want to choose a person that may be starting a business, that's a video editor or account." We would like to do a full renovation of the space in the future.
The style of setup videos is currently full of long, slow- moving close-ups and bouncy music. He starts his videos with a 30 second video of everything he is about to show. There is nothing practical about it, but it is enjoyable to watch. The creators are putting themselves in their videos to give the audience a better idea of who they are.
New stuff to recommend is the most important thing for the creators. Two years into the work-from- home revolution, there is more competition than ever on everything from desks to webcams, and that gives DeskTubers a new world of gadgets to test. It seems like everyone has recently made a video with a new monitor to see if it can make a difference in your life. These videos are mostly not sponsored content, but like many other companies, they are happy to give away free gear to people looking for a video subject. The desk accessory world is changing fast, with new brands and new kinds of products coming out, but Encina won't say what it is.
Encina believes that the next big thing on DeskTube will be a return to minimalist design. He says that it can get very cringey for a lot of people. He admits to sometimes crossing that line himself. We are getting to the point of overdoing it as the constant need for more content makes setup more complex. Encina plans to make his new space simpler than his current one and will document it for the channel. The building of these massive, intricate, heavy-duty, wall-to-wall spaces will be counterbalanced by it. He thinks it will be good for Encina. I think that is an area where it can stand out.
I haven't changed my office setup in a while. I don't know what to do with a giant pile of papers, I can't keep my cables organized, and I've killed every living plant I've brought into the room, but it works perfectly. Every day, I log on and click on the Dream Desk or Setup Tour or 12 Desk accessories to improve my setup video. It's possible that the secret to productivity, peace, and happiness is one accessory away. I will have a place to put my headphones if that is the case.
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