Best Results Organizing

WHY USE A DESK PAD?

It’s funny how small, random things resonate with people. In early September, in Paper Doll Explores New & Nifty Office and School Supplies, I included a small section on how desk pads have come back into vogue, and shared some examples of brightly colored, inexpensive options. I’ve been surprised by how many people had follow-up questions about this rarely discussed office supply.

Desk pads are similar to but not quite the same as desk blotters, even though the two are often conflated. However, as we’re not writing with quills or fountain pens anymore, nobody is really blotting anything. Still desk pads have a variety of benefits for organizing your desk physically as well as psychologically. 

Desk pads have a variety of purposes. A desk pad will:

• Protect the desk from spilled beverages, sticky or crumbly foods, and scratches (either from your watch or jewelry, or from pens that dig into the desktop surface).
• Create a more comfortable workplace. This includes making the traditional writing surface smooth for when you’re actually using pen or pencil (like a caveman) or protecting your arms from the desktop’s surface. If your desk is metal or glass, the surface can be ice cold; an old wooden desk may feel scratchy or splintery. Desk pads vastly improves your comfort level because they’re generally made from softer or sleeker materials. This also provides a gentler surface to reduce friction against your wrists.
• Yield more slide-y space than a mousepad. Whether you’re using your desktop for working or gaming, a mousepad offers little space to slide your mouse around. A desk pad makes that smooth area much wider and eliminates your worry about making grander gestures.
• Reduce the sound and vibrations of a clickety mechanical keyboard.
• Designate zones for different tools. Some desk pads give you specific areas to help carve out the niche areas of purpose on your desk.
• Make a statement of style for the owner of the desk, to communicate personality with visitors and to delight you when you’re sitting at your workspace. Given that most of day’s post focuses on more mature styles of desk pads, in leather and and leather-like materials, I thought I’d share the kind of desk pad that the less grown-up version of me is often tempted to acquire. Because, as you may have wondered at some point, Surely Not Everyone Was Kung Fu Fighting (from Society Six).

DESK PAD ATTRIBUTES TO CONSIDER

Most of the inquiries I received asked about what features they should consider in a desk pad. For those used to the traditional oversized calendar style of blotter, the number of modern desk pad possibilities come as a bit of an overwhelming surprise. Let’s look at several.

Size

One hesitates to say that “size matters,” but you need to consider a variety of size-related elements:

• How large is your work area? — If your desk is enormous and you’ve got an itty bitty desk pad not much bigger than a mousepad, the desk pad is going to be engulfed, both logicically and aesthetically. If it’s only the width of your keyboard, the friction of the edges against your arm may annoy you.

Conversely, if you’re working on a tiny desk, make sure your desk pad will actually fit. Read the actual measurements, but also keep your eyes out for keywords, like “extended,” that give you an idea of the size of a product. A standard goal is to pick a desk pad that covers 2/3 of the width of your desk, but your needs may vary, given other factors.

• How much of your stuff do you want on the desk pad? — Do you want the deskpad to cover just the area closest to you, or would you prefer your computer to sit atop it? If you want your desktop and keyboard located on top of your deskpad, you’ll need more space than if you just want to put it under your laptop (or just prefer it under the area where you rest your arms).

Some desk pads are designed to be large enough to have space for your phone, mouse (so a mousepad is unnecessary), office supplies, and any papers essential to your work.

• What kind of surface do you need for your work functionality? — If you’re using a mouse instead of a track pad and a desk pad in lieu of a mouse pad, the mouse needs to be able to move smoothly but not slip on too glossy a surface. The surface should also allow you an adequate, comfortable area upon which to rest your mousing wrist. 
• Do you need a desk pad to accommodate a special purpose? — Gamers often use oversized (overly wide) desk pads; engineers and computer specialists may need specialized pads for work on computers or with tools.
• Do you need options? There are varieties of desk pads with different surfaces on each side (like for gaming vs. standard computing or intricate work vs. writing). If your work and play tasks vary widely, consider looking at dual-dided pads to make sure you’re comfortable. A distracted worker is an unproductive worker.

Think about width as well as depth of your desk (and desk pad) as you look at your purchase options. 

Materials

The material from which your desk pad is constructed will impact how it looks, how long it will last, and how much it will cost. Common desk pad materials include:

• Leather looks sumptuous and sophisticated, is easy to keep clean, and tends to be durable over the long term. However, it is often one of the most expensive options.

Leatherology has a wide variety of classic and modern desk pad options, but they also have some spiffy extra-long desk pads and narrower “conference and laptop” pads. They’re all in gorgeous Italian leather and are (for real leather) fairly affordable, from $95 to $170. Even their colors sound luxurious, with Bordeaux (below), Oxblood, Mocha, and Dove mixing with Tan, Black, Midnight Blue.

Grovemade is a similarly delicious vendor of 3.5mm-thick premium leather desk pads with cork backing in six sizes: Small – 11” x 24.75”, Small Plus – 14″ x 31.5″, Medium – 11.5” x 38”, Medium Plus – 15.75″ x 38″, Large – 26” x 38.5”, and Extra Large – 26.5″ x 49″. Small, medium & medium plus provide room for an external keyboard and mouse, while Large is designed to work under the Grovemade Monitor Stand and Laptop Stand. Prices range from $110 to a whopping $400!

Of course, leather can get incredibly pricey. Smythson of Bond Street’s Large Desk Mat in Panama (available in Black or Sandstone) runs a hefty $1095!

• “Vegan” leather is what we used to call vinyl. It’s durable, though not so much as real leather, but it avoids the whole Bambi’s mother issue. You will sometimes see this described as “Eco” leather. If you’re not spending in the $100s, you’re almost assuredly not seeing a leather pad.
• Plastic or PVC vinyl is inexpensive, but may feel cold against your arms, can split or crack over time, and likely won’t last as long as some other varieties. That said, whether clear or opaque and colored, plastic surfaces are usually easier to clean and ideal for people who tend to stain their horizontal surfaces with coffee cup rings. 
• Wool/Felt provides a cozy, hygge look, but can feel itchy or scratchy to your arms. (If you’re buying a wood desk pad as gift, make sure your recipient doesn’t have wool allergies.) Of course, a mouse will not slide on wool so you’ll still need a mouse pad, and you’re not really going to be able to handwrite on it unless you’ve got a notebook or want to fuss with cardboard backing while drafting your thank you notes.

If you’re up for spending $94 on some wool that you can’t even wear on date night, Graf Lantz has a sophisticated Mosen Large Merino Wool Felt Desk Pad measuring 31” wide x 19 ½” high in seven colors (Espresso, Mahogany, Orange, Granite, Charcoal, Marine, and Sage.

• Microfiber or Polyester — These materials tend to be relatively thin, on to top of spongy backing, making it hard to write with pencil or ball point pens, and can be hard to keep clean over the long run. These range from lower-end options to more fancy-pants versions, like the Harber London Microfibre Minimalist Deskmat, available in three sizes, from about $60-$84, from the UK.
• Cork — For example, IKEA’S minimalist Susig, measuring 17 3/4″ by 25 1/2″ is made of cork, which repels dirt and water. It’s only $8.99. Bear in mind that cork can have a strong odor, as anyone who’s ever purchased a new bulletin board will know. Buyer beware.

• Linoleum is an atypical options, but Grovemade makes them from linseed oil, natural pine rosin, wood flour, and calcium carbonate, with a cork backing, in ten different colors. They resist fingerprints and are antistatic and durable. 
• Aluminum or Copper desk pads provide anti-static attributes. These metals have conductive properties, and will protect your computers and electronic equipment from static electricity. If you work around equipment that’s sensitive to static, like in a computer lab or server room, this is something to consider.
• Marble, glass, acrylic — These atypical desk pads are going to be cold, heavy, and slippery, but easy to clean.

I’d recommend against these icy materials unless you are far more into aesthetics than computing, but the Pottery Barn White Marble Desk Blotter may put you in “fancy society matron” mode. It comes in 24″ wide by 18″ high for $79 or 36″ wide by 18″ high (pictured below) for $99 and can be personalized.

As you examine your options, ask yourself, will this material deflect spills? Morning Starbucks? Afternoon Starbucks? Late night pizza grease?

Leather and vegan leather are sumptuous, but will they withstand ink stains and the pressure of a ball point pen? 

Do you need gutters (indentations) for pens or cord organizers or side panels on the edges to give you a sense of boundaries (and let you tuck in note cards)?

Whatever material you choose will reflect your personal style. Select something that uplifts and inspires you (or at least doesn’t frustrate you) when you approach your desk.

That said, consider that how you organize your desk reflects on your office mates or your employers. There’s some wiggle room, but if your desk pad quote Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Eat the Rich! but you work at a high-end accounting firm, you may encounter some conflict.

Grip/Traction

A super slick desk surface such as one made of metal or glass will improve your mousing capabilities but may make it hard for you to keep things from rolling away. A good desk pad has backing that provides traction for keeping your keyboard from jiggling, your pens from rolling, and your podcast microphones from sliding away.

Think about how the backing material will affect the grippiness of the pad on the desk’s surface. Look for a desk pad with backing that’s sufficiently rubbery to keep the desk pad from sliding around, but not something so inexpensive that it will get sticky or goopy near a heater or in direct sunlight as the years go by.

You also want a smooth top surface for writing, but not so smooth that your keyboard will slide around.

Organization

Psychologically, a desk pad has a calming, centering effect, much like a tablecloth or table runner in a home, dissuading you from piling junk or excess materials in your space. A desk pad also helps you create zones, both on the pad and around the perimeter. You might find yourself keeping resources on the back third of the desk, beyond the far edge of the depth of the pad, or papers to the left of the pad and your phone and gadgets to the right.

Let your desk pad support your organizational structure, and you might find that it supports your physical as well as cognitive sense of order. 

Design Aesthetic 

Design also has both a functional and psychological impact.

Functionally, the design and manufacture of your desk pad can affect your comfort while you work. Those with some extra padding may be more comfortable under your arms while you’re typing. Of course, you don’t want a pad so thick that it adds bulk or adversely impacts your ergonomics. And, as mentioned, size will matter if you’re trying to create a sleek, uniform look on your desk. 

Aesthetically, the combination of materials, colors, and styles determine whether your desk pad looks:

• Professional — Let’s define this to mean anything from serene to stuffy, but generally appropriate for an attorney’s office or anywhere you’re expected to dress conservatively for work.
• Sleek, modern, minimalist — If the bulk of your workspace is glass, metal, or full of spare IKEA-styled wooden furniture, you’ll want a desk pad that sets a similar tone. 
• Activist-oriented — Does everything in your office convey a written message? Is your tone political (in the wider use of the term)? You may want a bold look.
• Too Cool for School — If you’re working with younger people (by which I mean adults younger than you, as parents may bristle at middle school guidance counselors decorating with edgy messages), you may want a more youthful, expressive style to maintain integrity.  
• Personal — Whether you want Barbie pink or a Darth Vader Sith Lord desk pad from NovelKeys, in the end, you need to ask: does the desk pad fit your tastes? If not, you’ll never feel entirely at ease at your desk.

In the end, this is a desk pad, not a wedding dress. Pick a color, pattern, and material that reflects your style insofar as you’re allowed to express your true style at work. 

And if you find the perfect desk pad but expect it will be received poorly at work, use it in your desk area at home — and start looking for a job that won’t stifle your soul.

Portability

If you set up a desk once and never remove anything, this won’t be a concern. However, if you hot-desk at your office, or if you’re a student who relocates to different work areas and likes your desk pad to come with you, portability may be an issue.

Some desk pads easily roll up like small yoga mats and you can keep them rolled with a rubber band or yoga mat band. Conversely, some fancy-pants desk pads, the kind made to emulate old-fashioned leather pads, are not only stiff and unrollable, but are often weighted heavily on the left and right edges and not ideally portable.

Special Features

A desk pad is not always just a desk pad, especially in the 21st-century. Some, like the KeySmart Charging Taskpad have charging capabilities. Measuring 35.43″ x 16.54″, in comes only in black. What it lacks in panache, in makes up for in features. 

The KeySmart Charging Task Pad has built-in wireless charging capabilities. You can just set your phone, Airpods, or other doohickies on the mat and they will charge quickly, even when in their cases. It’s also water- and stain-resistant, and anti-scratch, with a no-slip-backing and PU Leather surface. There’s a “micro-textured mouse pad built in, with cushioning for wrists and forearms. It’s $120 from KeySmart and currently on sale at Amazon for $69.

Gaming keyboards like are built with colorful, lighted margins to help set the ambiance. For example, see the Razer Goliathus Chroma line, which runs $54 at Warmart and Amazon for the extended version. (You may want to turn down your volume if you’re over 30 years of age.)

Price

Do you want to make a long-term commitment to one desk pad or “date” around with different options depending on your mood of the week? The more committed, the higher a price point you can embrace. I’ve seen desk pads ranging from $10 to $200, so you should be able to augment your work space at a cost that works for you.

A FEW MORE DESK PAD EXAMPLES

Smead Desk Pads

Just as I was considering writing this blog post, I got an email from one of my favorite companies to recommend about the brand new Smead Desk Pads. The waterproof surface, described as being crafted from “premium vegan leather,” has a sturdy design to protect against keyboard scratches, water marks, and spills.

Smead notes that the faux-suede, non-slip backing will ensure stability, so it won’t wiggle while you work or write. They stated that it comes rolled for easy shipping but will lay flat without curling once it’s on your desk.

The Smead Desk Pads come in three sizes:

• Small (23.6″ x 13.7″) for $10.49
• Medium (31.5″ x 15.7″) for $12.99
• Large (36″ x 17″) for $14.99

and five colors: Blue, Dusty Rose, Saddle, Sandstone, and Charcoal.

If you’re seeking a serene, serious, vibe, like for the office of a therapist or ADHD coach, this might be ideal. 

OrbitKey Desk Mat

The OrbitKey Desk Mat comes in Black or Stone, in two sizes: Medium (27.01″ wide x 14.69″ high) and Large (35.28″ wide x 16.65″ high). It’s made of premium vegan leather and 100% recycled PET felt and comes with a two-year warranty.

The OrbitKey Desk Mat has some intriguing features, including:

• a quick-access indented toolbar across the top
• a magnetic cable organizer
• a document hideaway feature, suitable for keeping your cheat sheet formulas and codes, or sensitive papers you need at your fingertips

It’s also somewhat pricey (at just under $80 for Medium or $100 for Large) from OrbitKey and Amazon.

Adir Professional Reversible Self-Healing Cutting Mat

Adir’s dual-sided green and black desk pad is made of “self-healing” vinyl and comes in four sizes: 12′ x 18″ ($15), 18″ x 24″ ($25), 18″ x36″ ($45), and 36″ x 48″ ( $76) from Amazon. If you’ve got someone on your shopping list whose desk is equal parts computer desk and work bench, this option will “self-heal” if an art or mat knife or rotary cutter slices through it, keeping the surface smooth. It’s marked with 0.5 inch, as well as measurements in centimeters and millimeters, 45- and 60-degree angle guides, and diagonal cutting lines.

Excel Tips Deskpad (and Morning Brew)

This is actually two recommendations in one. Do you subscribe to the Morning Brew newsletter? It’s a stellar daily newsletter for catching up on all the (mostly non-stressful) national, international, business, and entertainment news delivered in a delightfully Dad-joke tone to make starting your day easier. 

If you spend too much time on Microsoft Excel, you might want to look at the Morning Brew Excel Tips desk pad. It measures 27.20″x11.75″ and provides more than 60 Excel functions, 100+ Excel shortcuts, and top dialog box definitions, all for $35. 

Paper Doll hasn’t had the opportunity to use and rank most desk pads, so you may wish to peruse recent coverage of the best of desk pads for 2023.

9 Best Desk Mats of 2023 for a More Organized Workspace (Good Housekeeping)

The 10 Best Desk Pads to Elevate Your Workspace (The Robb Report)

The 11 Best Desk Mats of 2023 (The Spruce)

The 12 Best Desk Pads to Make You More Productive and Organized at Work (Esquire)

The 15 Best Desk Pads For Your Home Office (GearMoose)

21 Stylish Deskpads and Blotters for Writers (Accessory to Success)

The Best Desk Pads & Mats for Your Office (Werd)

Do you use a desk mat? What are the most important features for you to work comfortably?

THE LOOKS OF THINGS

Quite often, when people talk about tools for getting organized and productive, they talk about the way products look. However, if you’ve been a longtime reader of Paper Doll, you know that I’m a firm believer in focusing on function rather than aesthetics. No matter how pretty or spiffy or intriguing a product looks, if it doesn’t work well, and help you work well, then it’s a bit pointless.

That doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the psychological value of how things appear. For example, I’ve talked about how color can play a motivational role:

Cool and Colorful Desktop Solutions to Organize Your Workspace

Paper Doll Adds a Pop of Color with Bright & Sunny Office Supplies

Ask Paper Doll: Should I Organize My Space and Time with Color?

Organize Your Days With a Little Color

For me, I can’t resist things in the pink and purple range. I’ve written before about how I am a steadfast adherent to my Roaring Spring purple legal pads, and I have a purple iPhone and iMac.

Almost anything I can purchase (for the same price as the bland and boring version), I’m likely to acquire in pink or purple. As much as I try to avoid duplication, even though I have a lovely pink Swingline stapler that is perfectly serviceable,

when a generous colleague gifted me a pink Mustard-brand Bunny stapler, I couldn’t resist keeping it in my office space, too. (And yes, I do make “boing-boing-boing” sounds effects when I use the bunny stapler. Need you ask?)

In Gretchen Rubin‘s latest book, Life in Five Senses:  How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World, which I’m currently reading, she calls attention to all of the ways

we can enrich our lives by exploring sensory experiences. In each chapter, Rubin walks through quirky personal quests as well as scientific experiments to illustrate how making ourselves more deeply aware of each of the senses can have an impact on the richness of our lives.

I still stand by the idea that function must come first, but I grant that by enmeshing the visual aesthetic with how something functions, it can make us much more likely to not only use, but embrace, items designed to make us more productive. 

Intriguingly, as I’ve been reading Rubin’s book (and particularly during the section on sight), I’ve noticed what seems like a trend (but may just be an example of the frequency illusion or the Baader-Meinhoff phenomenon): an upswing in translucent and transparent office supplies.

Admittedly, this may not be a trend or a set of coincidental examples, but a freaky confluence of all of the social media algorithms talking to one another. Perhaps TikTok recognizes I’ve repeatedly paused to look at the ad for the Temu translucent calendars and has shared that with Twitter (I refuse to call it “X”), Facebook, and those ad insertion companies during their daily coffee klatches.

Whatever the reason for the translucent and transparent items, it hasn’t been a sign of a return to stark, boring, black and white (or grey) products; rather, it feels like the deep dive into color-free supplies is creating a more dazzling aesthetic. Of course, in each case, users get to add color in their own preferred ways. Perhaps that’s the advantage of going color-free, to be able to transcend a pre-created intellectual/emotional connection and impose your own?

In any case, the following are some of the products that have been capturing my attention lately. 

TRANSLUCENT CALENDARS

The product that most fits my inclination toward goal-conquering office supplies was the translucent Russell + Hazel Acrylic Clear & Gold Weekly Calendar.

The wall-mounted weekly calendar has seven columns for each day of the week (marked in thin white lines). It measures 24″ wide by 10″ high, weighs three pounds, has gold-tone accents, and is available from The Container Store for $49.99. (It’s sold out at Russell + Hazel which is just as well, as they were charging $114!)

The calendar is shown above with other translucent Russell + Hazel products, including an acrylic clear rail for $29.99, which is designed to hold associated wall organizers, including a wall mail box, pencil/pen holder and more. However, I’m more fond of the translucent office supplies that organize your thoughts and information than those that organize tangible stuff.

The Container Store Luxe Acrylic Magnetic Monthly Calendar takes the approach from weekly to monthly with a 14-inch square, clear, acrylic calendar. 

Four low-profile magnets hold the calendar securely in place on any steel surface. (Remember: magnets generally don’t work on stainless steel appliances!)

There’s a narrow horizontal strip at the top — circle whatever month it currently is. Next, mark the dates in the appropriate squares of the month. Use it as a family command center, a bill-payment reminder screen, or a project calendar. The Luxe Acrylic Magnetic Monthly Calendar is equally appropriate for kitchens, offices, dorm rooms, or workshops.

It’s designed by, and sold at, The Container Store, for $19.99.

The calendar comes with a white dry marker, but you could similarly use a wet-erase marker or a colored or metallic liquid chalk marker.

These are just a few examples of the magnetic approach. I’m inclined to only purchase from companies and brands with which I’m fairly familiar, so even though I originally became aware of these products via too-tempting “TikTok Made Me Buy It” spots from online shops like Temu and “Amazon Home Finds” videos (all similar except for their “thought influencer” spokespersons), I’ve not yet made the jump.

If you’re not as persnickety as I am, Amazon has a variety of copycat brands of these types of calendars from lines like Zochovhi, Aitee, SinPan, NeatSure, YeWink, and more. (This is the Zochovhi, but they all seem largely interchangeable.)

Unfortunately, Amazon’s product videos aren’t shareable in the manner of their product photos, so you might want to visit YouTube and search “acrylic magnetic calendars” to see them in action.

All of these seem to be fairly similar, ranging from slightly under 16″ x 12″ to just about 17″ x 12″, and vary in price from $16 to $22. Most seem to come with anywhere from three to eight colored dry-erase markers, and some include similarly-sized clear acrylic boards (suitable for lists/notes/messages).

Perhaps you’d like a clear calendar but prefer something on a grander scale? Girl Friday has what you’re seeking.

These acrylic calendars give you the ultimate big-picture view, whether you’re scheduling your busy life, your family’s activities, or your work team’s projects. These big calendars use professionally-cut acrylic and are printed on the back of the acrylic. This means you never have to worry about the printing coming off due to excessive wear. Even better, you have a choice of black or white print, allowing for the best contrast depending on the color of your walls behind the boards.

In addition to a horizontal strip of months above the calendar block (so you can mark which month you’re in), there’s a right-side panel for tracking specific activities or important information for the current week. (If you prefer a calendar without the right-side weekly panel, the three middle sizes below can be purchased as calendar-only for the same prices, per size, listed.)

There are five different Girl Friday calendar sizes. Note that the larger landscape means a higher price than the small products previously mentioned, but the quality here is superior. Pricing is as follows:

• 18″ wide X 15″ high (The writing area for each day is 2″ X 2 1/4″.) — $95 black text/$89 white text
• 23″ wide X 18.5″ high (The writing area for each day is 2 1/2” x 2 1/2”.) — $135 black text/$125 white text
• 31″ wide X 23″ high (The writing area for each day is 3 1/8” x 3 1/2”.) — $200 black or white text
• 35″ wide X 23″ high with thicker acrylic (The writing area for each day is 3 1/2” x 3 1/2”.) — $325 black text/$295 white text
• 42″ wide X 27″ tall with thicker acrylic (The writing area for each day is 4 3/8” x 4 1/4″.) — $385 black or white text

The acrylic measures 3/16″ thick for the three smaller sizes and 3/8″ thick for the two larger sizes.

You can pick from high-quality silver, gold, or black hardware, and Girl Friday promises clear instructions on how to hang the calendars on your wall. (Note well: these are non-magnetic!)

One wet-erase marker is included. While you can use either wet- or dry-erase markers, Girl Friday recommends wet-erase to provide darker and more precise writing.

Girl Friday also has a wide variety of fridge-sized, magnetic, clear acrylic calendars, menu boards, shopping lists, and weekly note boards. They also sell standard and customizable boards for business use.

MEMO BOARDS

Just as with clear, acrylic, magnetic calendars, you can find a variety of memo boards similar in style.

The Container Store Luxe Acrylic Magnetic Memo Board feels like a real find at $9.99. It measures 6″ wide by 9″ high (though, obviously, you could flip it 90°).

While they tend to show it off on a fridge, it seems like the perfect low-price, low-key way to track reminders and notes in lieu of an old-fashioned memo board. You can imagine it stuck to the side of a file cabinet in the office or on any of the steel/metal surfaces (including doors) in a dorm. Made of durable clear acrylic, it nonetheless has a flexibility that allows it to fit on somewhat curved surfaces, like those newfangled fridges.

I’d like it for tracking daily to-dos in the office, but it’s suitable for serving as a household message center, a make-sure-you-have-it-before-you-leave checklist for kids or grownups, or a reminder space. Use the included white dry marker, a wet erase marker, or (if you like to get fancy), a liquid chalk marker. The magnetic backing will stay secure to any steel surface.

If you’d prefer a desktop-top memo board, the Russell + Hazel Acrylic Memo Tablet has a more sophisticated, classy appeal, and can be used in a greater variety of spaces and ways.

• Leave it on the kitchen counter so everyone can add items to the grocery list (as above).
• Keep it on your desk to focus on your top three tasks of the day.
• Use it in lieu of sticky notes to capture thoughts throughout your workday.
• Leave important numbers for the babysitter in big, highly visible writing.
• Place it on the front hall table with greetings and instructions for when the kids get home from school.
• Move it around the house to use in visible spots — the center of the breakfast table, the front hall table, the counter as you all head to the garage — with motivating quotes for the day.
• Place it in the center of the hors d’oeuvres at your next party, labeling dishes and drawing areas to clearly note which is which.

The acrylic memo tablet measures 12″ high by 11.5″ wide and stands at an angle in the 6″-deep acrylic base (which includes a nested area to place the white wet-erase marker that comes with it). 

The Acrylic Memo Tablet is available for $40 directly from the Russell + Hazel website, Amazon, and Target, and for $38 from Barnes & Noble.

CAVEATS ABOUT CLEAR PRODUCTS USED VERTICALLY

The problem with looking at cute products online is that we don’t always think deeply about how they’ll fit into our spaces. The biggest difficulty with a translucent calendar or memo board on the wall is that anything with white writing (and most of these are formatted with white text) will be unsuitable if the background wall, cabinet, or fridge is also white. Using colored dry- or wet-erase markers or liquid chalk markers will allow the text you create to be visible, but not the pre-created text or lines.

If you’re set on these clear calendars or memo boards but have white vertical surfaces, you do have options, depending on how DIY you are. (Paper Doll is not DIY at all. As some of you have heard me say, my hands only excel at typing and applying eyeliner; otherwise, I’m hopeless.) For the magnetic versions, you can cut a piece of construction paper or solid-colored wrapping paper and affix it to the fridge, cabinet, or metal door. The magnets of the calendars/ memo boards should hold the background paper neatly in place. (I’d discourage using anything with a pattern, as it’s likely to make it harder to read whatever’s written on the acrylic board.)

For non-metal backgrounds where you’ll be affixing the item directly to the wall, like the Russell + Hazel Acrylic Clear & Gold Weekly Calendar or the Girl Friday boards, you won’t be dealing with magnets, so your most labor-intensive option will be to paint the wall behind the calendar or affix it to a colorful wooden board or similar surface. (It’s not a choice I’d make, but you do you!) 

Consider these issues before making purchases. 

---

Again, I know there are all sorts of lucite and acrylic boxes, drawers, and containers for tangible stuff, but today’s post centered on using these kinds of products to corral thoughts and information. If you’ve got other favorites in this category, please share in the comments!

If we can see our way clear to finding products that inspire us, perhaps we’ll clearly see how to accomplish our goals!