An office or computer desk is a place where someone is inevitably going to spend a lot of their time each day. It’s the centre of someone’s workday; the platform upon which they start to build their livelihood. Therefore, it’s critical that you get the right office or computer desk to fit that purpose.

In order to ensure that one makes the right choice, they need to consider some important factors. Below are some great tips on choosing the best possible office desk.

1. Start with Size

The desk needs not just to fit the dimensions of the office space, but also the dimensions of the person’s work. A tiny desk with no space is absolutely no good for someone in a creative occupation, for example, because they need space on a desk to spread out their books, their papers, their research materials and/or art materials if it’s something more hands-on.

Another practical dimension is height. A computer desk that is too high for someone is going to be uncomfortable to use and difficult for them to sit comfortably with their feet flat on the floor as correct posture says you should. Size is as much about ergonomics as it is pure surface space.

So, the perfect office desk needs to be big enough for a computer and your remaining work paraphernalia, and the right height at which you can sit comfortably.

2. Storage

Besides space on the surface, a good desk also needs to have proper storage in the form of drawers, attached shelves, as well as ledges. Storage helps you keep the surface of your desk from becoming too cluttered, and leaves it open for when you need to unfurl papers or handwrite notes. These drawer and shelf units might be integrated or they may come as separate extras that slot under one side, or attach to the top or sides of the desk. There are many designs available nowadays.

Regardless of the job or industry, at least some desk storage is a must when choosing the right office desk.

3. Cable Management

What kind of computer and peripheral equipment will you have on a single desk? Is it just a single all-in-one computer unit with a power plug? Or a laptop with its power supply? Is there a printer or scanner to be plugged in? What about a desk phone? And lighting? The more electrical devices there are on the desk, the more power cables you have to deal with. This means you need to consider cable tidying solutions in the desk. Are there holes for the cables to do down? Or will they be left dangling messily at the back?

4. Colour and Style

If you’re buying multiple desks for a larger office, then you need them to fit in with the rest of your office motif and style. You need a surface wood that goes with your wall and/or carpet colours, and should also consider if you want all wood, or a mixture of wood and metal, or perhaps all metal? Your office looks how you want, so you need the desks to blend in with that and not clash.

5. Budget

If you’re setting up for a home office, and therefore only buying a single desk, you might splurge on something a bit more luxurious; a real “boss desk” as they say in some parts of the world. On the other hand, when buying desks for an entire office, the budget needs to be considered more carefully. The overheads of running an entire office are high enough already, and there’s no need to add to them unnecessarily with over-priced desks.