I remember when we used to work on a desk. We used to have notebooks, paper reports, printed faxes, books, post-its, a calculator, a rule, pens, pencils… Our work area was big. We had several documents opened at the same time.

我记得我们以前在桌子上工作。 我们曾经有笔记本，纸质报告，印刷的传真，书籍，便利贴，计算器，尺子，笔，铅笔……我们的工作区域很大。 我们同时打开了多个文档。

Well, a little chaos helps with creativity, right?

好吧，一点点混乱有助于创造力，对吗？

Yes, I’m old. I’m talking about the pre-PC era. Designers and visual artists used to have a drawing table where they planed, drawn, or even made physical prototypes.

是的，我老了。 我说的是PC之前的时代。 设计师和视觉艺术家曾经在设计，绘制甚至制作物理原型时使用绘图台。

At some moments of my life, I have done some drawing and illustration but not enough to consider buying a drawing table. Anyway, I always adored the idea of having all that large space to work. One of these days, perhaps.

在我一生中的某些时刻，我做了一些绘图和插图，但还不足以考虑购买绘图台。 无论如何，我一直很喜欢拥有这么大工作空间的想法。 这些日子之一，也许。

多显示器工作空间的趋势 (The trend of a multi-monitor workspace)

At the beginning of the personal computer revolution, the idea to have a second monitor was unthinkable because of the costs and the size of the monitors.

在个人计算机革命的开始，拥有第二台显示器的想法是不可想象的，因为显示器的成本和尺寸都很大。

As you know, today it’s very common for programmers to have at least two monitors. One for the code and other for the rest — email, messages, web surfing, references or testing.

如您所知，今天，程序员拥有至少两个监视器是非常普遍的。 一个用于代码，其他用于代码—电子邮件，消息，网上冲浪，参考或测试。

Instead, most of the designers I know prefer the large screen over a second monitor—or just a little one aside.

取而代之的是，我认识的大多数设计师都喜欢大屏幕而不是第二台显示器，或者只喜欢一小块显示器。

I have used two monitors myself, one for the occasional HTML or CSS code to check, and the other, like the programmers, for the rest of apps, testing and documents.

我本人已经使用了两个监视器，一个用于偶尔HTML或CSS代码检查，另一个像程序员一样，用于其余的应用程序，测试和文档。

In my experience, it’s very useful to have a couple of screens to separate writing long pieces of text from other operational daily tasks, for example.

以我的经验来说，有几个屏幕可以将较长的文本与其他日常操作分开，这非常有用。

Having your main project in one monitor allows you to have a better focus on it, avoid distractions, and help your brain switching contexts — every time you turn to see a monitor your brain connects with the project on it.

将主项目放在一个监视器中可以使您更好地关注它，避免分心，并帮助您的大脑切换上下文-每当您看到监视器时，您的大脑就会与该项目相连接。

In a lot of offices, you still find drawing tables or spaces to work apart from the computer. But most of the work is digital.

在许多办公室中，您仍然可以找到绘图表或空间来与计算机分开工作。 但是大多数工作都是数字化的。

You can work on very large monitors or have more than one to try to match the space of those drawing tables from the past. Dual or multiple monitor setups, ultrawide screens, curved displays…

您可以使用非常大的显示器，也可以使用多个显示器来尝试匹配过去的那些绘图表的空间。 双显示器或多显示器设置，超宽屏，曲面显示器……

But, let’s face it, there are a lot of disadvantages with working on large or second monitors:

但是，让我们面对现实，使用大型或辅助显示器有很多缺点：

• You never stop focusing on a screen, no matter how big or how many. Being in focus looks to be a thing these days, but we have to be careful not misunderstanding the value of focusing on one task with having your sight in one place.无论大小是多少，您都不会停止关注屏幕。 如今，集中注意力似乎是一件大事，但我们必须小心，不要误解将您的视线集中在一处而专注于一项任务的价值。
• They use a lot of space in your work area, even if you hang the monitors on the wall or on a stand designed for that purpose.即使您将显示器悬挂在墙上或为此目的而设计的支架上，它们也会在您的工作区域中占用大量空间。
• If you have a laptop, it’s great to have a bigger or a second monitor at the office or home, but of course, that second monitor is not portable.如果您有笔记本电脑，那么在办公室或家中拥有更大或第二台显示器是很好的，但是，第二台显示器当然不是便携式的。
• The quality of the image resolution, the light, and even the colors make any modern monitor benign for your eyes. But no matter if it’s a monitor, a blackboard or a wall, staring for too long periods to one place is not good for your eyes.图像分辨率，光线甚至颜色的质量使任何现代显示器对您的眼睛都是良性的。 但是，无论是显示器，黑板还是墙壁，凝视得太久都不适合您的眼睛。
• They consume a lot of energy, especially if you use them to their full capacity.它们消耗大量能量，尤其是如果您将其完全使用。
• Sometimes one monitor for just reading a web page or just to look at it when a new message or email arrives can be too much.有时，一个仅用于阅读网页或仅在收到新消息或电子邮件时查看网页的监视器可能太多了。

混合解决方案：屏幕+纸张 (A hybrid solution: screen + paper)

For me, the best second display is not LCD, LED, or plasma but a paper-based display: a notebook, a notepad, a journal, or even sheets of paper.

对我来说，最好的第二个显示器不是LCD，LED或等离子显示器，而是纸质显示器：笔记本电脑，记事本，日记本甚至纸。

I’m not being cheap. I think there are a lot of advantages to having a paper-based workspace next to your computer.

我不便宜。 我认为在计算机旁边有一个基于纸张的工作区有很多好处。

1. It’s good for your brain to switch contexts beyond the computer monitor. Forget augmented or virtual reality, keeping notes, todo lists, ideas, sketches, diagrams or mind maps on paper allows your brain to locate things in a three-dimensional environment.将上下文切换到计算机监视器之外对您的大脑有益。 忘记增强或虚拟现实，在纸上保存笔记，待办事项列表，想法，草图，图表或思维导图，即可使您的大脑在三维环境中定位事物。
2. The paper display can be as small or as large as you want. The kind and color of the paper it’s up to you also. I like plain paper because I can have notes and ideas but also sketches or diagrams. And a notebook allows me to open it and have the space of a page or a double-page depending on my needs at the moment.纸张显示可以根据需要大小而定。 纸张的种类和颜色也取决于您。 我喜欢普通纸，因为我可以有笔记和想法，也可以有草图或图表。 笔记本允许我打开它，并根据当前需要将页面或双页空间保留。
3. You can change your input tool. No matter if you use words or images, to occasionally leave the keyboard, and the mouse or trackpad, give some rest to your body from a fixed position.您可以更改输入工具。 无论您使用文字还是图像，都可以偶尔离开键盘，鼠标或触控板，并从固定位置放松一下。
4. Like you, I have used that photo editing or drawing app for hours to be on time for a deadline. After that, I have dreamed of designing on that screen when going to bed. Yes, I have dreamed of nodes and Bézier curves. You can change your point of view or your perspective about your project using two different tools, one digital and another analog.像您一样，我已经使用该照片编辑或绘图应用程序数小时才能按时完成任务。 之后，我梦想着在睡觉时在该屏幕上进行设计。 是的，我梦到节点和贝塞尔曲线。 您可以使用两种不同的工具(一种是数字工具，另一种是模拟工具)改变对项目的看法或观点。
5. Changing focus and looking to a different surface for your words or images is good for your eyes.改变焦点并在另一面看字词或图像对您的眼睛有益。
6. Your paper-based workspace is portable. You can carry it and use it next to your laptop at the cafe.您的基于纸张的工作区是可移植的。 您可以随身携带并在咖啡厅的笔记本电脑旁使用它。

还有更多 (There is more)

One of the unsuspecting advantages of a second analog display is that it can be your main workspace and not your second.

第二个模拟显示器毫无疑问的优点之一是它可以是您的主要工作空间，而不是您的第二个工作空间。

When I need to outline, diagram or draw a concept map for a project, I work better on paper. I make more space for the notepad — or a simple sheet of paper — on my desk and leave the computer monitor to the side. I might still use the screen to look for something on the web or read an opened document, but for several minutes my main work is done on paper.

当我需要为项目勾勒轮廓，绘制图表或绘制概念图时，我在纸上工作得更好。 我在桌子上为记事本(或一张简单的纸)留出了更多空间，并将计算机显示器放在一边。 我可能仍会使用屏幕在网上查找内容或阅读打开的文档，但是几分钟后，我的主要工作还是在纸上完成的。

A sheet of paper can become my drawing or mindmap app, my canvas, my workspace, my text editor… sometimes even my spreadsheet.

一张纸可以成为我的绘图或思维导图应用程序，我的画布，我的工作区，我的文本编辑器……有时甚至是我的电子表格。

I’m not against electronic displays. Even if you already have a large or second monitor, having a paper-based workspace can help you. You may have post-its or little notebooks, but what I propose is to do part of your work on paper, parallel to your work on the screen.

我不反对电子显示器。 即使您已经有一个大型显示器或第二个显示器，使用基于纸张的工作区也可以为您提供帮助。 您可能有便利贴或小本子，但我建议在纸上进行部分工作，与在屏幕上进行工作平行。

Do you need to have everything on the cloud for reference or to share with co-workers? A photo with your smartphone can be enough but there are many apps to keep hand made sketches or manuscripts on the cloud.

您是否需要将所有内容都存储在云中以供参考或与同事共享？ 用智能手机拍照就可以了，但是有很多应用程序可以将手工素描或手稿保留在云端。

I invite you to try it. How does a paper-based workspace function for you?

我邀请您尝试一下。 基于纸张的工作空间如何为您服务？