I was recently alerted on an business networking forum, of a great piece of software that puts a post-it note on your pc screen rather than plastered all over your desk.

The download link is http://www.greeneclipse.com/stickypad.html

I downloaded the software and immediately thought it was great and feature rich compared to other post-it software I’d experienced before. However within a day of using it I went back to my old method.

I’m just more comfortable with paper when it comes to my notes and lists…it seems quicker to me to quickly jot something down on paper, than have to click first before typing your note.

Also unlike desk notes, you can’t leave your note open on the screen in front of you for ready viewing because basically as a designer you need all the screen space you can get instead of warring with on-screen post it notes for it.

So, giving my expert advice now on the efficient use of paper on your actual desk, what you need to do is instead of wasting time with the tiny space capacity of a small square post-it, is pick something more capicious, for bigger lists and more detailed notes.

I’ll explain below with the following easy steps;

1. Ignore cute funky notebooks purchased from WHSmiths and instead when in need of a list vessel, grab a sheet of paper out of your printer tray.

2. Fold it in half and make your list on the front.

3. Put it neatly on the desk in front of you to refer to and keep track of tasks and to jot notes on when necesssary.

4. Keep adding scrawl to this same list rather than creating ‘new’ notes, until you can barely understand anything on there.

5. When said paper can fit no more scrawl on it, tear off a strip of paper from the printer again, a smaller strip this time, and staple it to the front of the existing scrawl – don’t worry if some of the new tasks start to repeat themselves.

6. Step 5 is vital – after all, the notes on the original scrawl are far too important to discard.

7. Once you reach the point of a frankensteinesque paper with multiple stapled sections, that takes about 10 minutes to read each day, decide that it’s time to ‘rewrite’ the list onto a new folded piece of printer paper.

8. Grab new fresh shiny A4 paper from your printer, and repeat steps 1 – 7.

Now you can’t say say I never tell you anything useful.

Amanda