Pedals and Pixels: A Tour of a Designer’s Bike-Inspired Workspace in South Carolina

Name: Benten Woodring

Location: Greenville, SC, United States

Occupation: Senior Web Designer at Unfold

Room size: 13,4 m² (144 ft²)

Cost of setup: ~$5,8K

Social media: Bento, Twitter

Hello! Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Benten Woodring.

I’m a self-taught brand and UI designer currently working as a Senior Web Designer at Unfold, building web identities for household name brands and tech startups.

My work has been featured by Webflow, OnePageLove, and others.

I’m a Colorado native currently living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina.

When I’m not drawing rectangles, I like spending time on my bike, hiking in the mountains, or paddleboarding with my family.

I recently competed in the first web design e-sports event as part of the Relume Design League, battling it out against the likes of Fons Mans and others in a timed competition.

I have also been working on a web design course with Unfold Academy that will be launching soon, alongside other courses from Unfold.

I first got my start in design after graduating with a business degree and joining a non-profit that serves at-risk youth.

I was responsible for running a small screen printing shop, where I helped teach job skills to at-risk youth.

As part of my job, I had to learn how to prep artwork for screen printing, which piqued my interest in design.

I started getting inquiries for freelance work, then landed my first agency job shortly after.

Since then, I have worked in brand, print, marketing, art direction, and now, as a web and UI designer.

Outside of my day job, I take on select brand identity and web design projects with my own studio.

Take us through your setup

I first started building my setup in March of 2020, when everyone at my current agency shifted to working from home.

I bought a cheap IKEA desk and had a steel workshop chair to get me started, but I quickly found I needed higher-quality gear to make working from home more comfortable.

My first big purchase was a Herman Miller Aeron that I bought secondhand, followed by an Uplift V2 standing desk.

Those two purchases made a huge difference in my productivity.

Since then, I’ve been slowly adding items such as a microphone and mic arm, a mechanical keyboard, a more comfortable mouse, and most recently, a walking pad.