Sticky notes holder concept comes with a very tall panel for your notes

Although a lot of the world today revolves around digital documents and files, there are definitely plenty of people who still espouse analog systems, especially when it comes to taking notes and productivity. In fact, there are many productivity systems today that utilize paper notebooks or even sticky notes, better known as Post-its, though the latter are also notorious for creating a mess rather than helping you stay on top of things. Part of the problem is that sticky notes make it too easy to, well, stick these square pieces of paper anywhere, which means potentially losing them or ending up being more disorganized than ever. This Post-it Note Holder design concept tries to solve that by providing a space for all your sticky notes needs, including a place to stick them.

Designer: Liam de la Bedoyere

Sticky notes today come in different sizes and even shapes, but the colored square format remains the most popular because of its ease of use and space efficiency. It forces you to condense what you need to write down to the most essential pieces of information, and they often don’t take up too much space either. That is until you find your desk, your board, or even your computer monitor littered with these sticky squares, at which point they defeat the entire purpose of trying to keep your life in order.

This concept encapsulates a whole system designed around sticky notes so that you don’t have to work hard to keep everything in a single place. Of course, there’s the actual holder for keeping a stack of notes always ready to receive your scribbles, but there’s also a curve at the back to hold a pen, saving you from having to scramble for one just when you really need it. The most prominent part of this note holder, however, is the very tall and narrow board that rises from the holder. This serves as a more limited space for sticking your notes after you’ve written them.

The design is intentionally limited in space, which forces you to only stick the really important notes the same way sticky notes themselves force you to be concise and quick. At the same time, it still leaves plenty of room for flexibility and personal workflows, like arranging your notes in a literal hierarchy of importance. Or you could order the notes according to their urgency or due dates, watching the colored squares slowly march down as you complete your tasks.

The concept also has room for variations in design, like one that could be hung on a wall and has an inclined note holder for easier access to the pad. And for the truly disciplined Post-it user, the “base” configuration of note and pen holder still gives the convenience of having the essentials always ready when inspiration strikes. You just have to be sure you don’t fall back into the habit of sticking your notes everywhere and then forgetting where you put them after just a few hours.

The post Sticky notes holder concept comes with a very tall panel for your notes first appeared on Yanko Design.

Note-taking desk accessory puts a small twist to your productivity

There is no shortage of productivity tools, systems, and apps to the point that they can be both overwhelming and even costly. That’s why many advocate going back to the basics of handwritten notes on paper or even sticky notes, but those carry the risk of being lost or forgotten. Smartphones can easily become their digital equivalent, at least until you run out of battery. These two systems don’t need to be mutually exclusive, especially when you’re at your desk and have a rather large space available to get your things together. This device concept does exactly that, combining the world of analog and digital together to produce something that lets you be fast and efficient while throwing in a bit of fun for good measure.

Designer: Harshit Sahu

Paper can be simple, and apps can be quick, but not everyone needs all the commitment that these two different note-taking methods sometimes require. There are those that just need to jot down quick notes or even draw a diagram that can be discarded before the day is over. Note, which is the most generic name ever, is pretty much a small desk whiteboard that lets you do that with efficiency, but it has a few tricks up its sleeve that a bit of spice and fun to your work.

For one, the “whiteboard” twists or rather flips over, giving you twice the space to write your notes down. One side can have a dotted grid surface to help with diagrams, while the other can be plain, or they can have the same design on both sides. As with any vertical slate, you can also place sticky notes on it, in case scribbling notes down on paper is quicker for you. The notes you write on the board are, of course, temporary, and a simple cloth can erase the contents to make room for the next notes.

What makes Note unique is the addition of a multi-purpose vertical screen to its left side. This allows you to also have a view of the time, the calendar, and your appointments which are synced from your phone. This could be a more efficient way to stay on top of your schedule compared to writing it down by hand and looking at your notebook every now and then. The screen also provides other functions, like a timer, a world clock, or a music player. But now, it doesn’t let you watch videos, which would be counterproductive.

Note is admittedly not a revolutionary new device, but it does creatively combine multiple ideas into a coherent whole. It isn’t a solution that will fit all needs, but because it is focused on a particular use case, it can optimize for that instead of spreading itself thin and overwhelming people with features. It’s simple and gets the job done without getting in the way of you getting your job done as well.

The post Note-taking desk accessory puts a small twist to your productivity first appeared on Yanko Design.

Clip-free clipboard is the ultimate minimalist tool for your brightest ideas

There has been a resurgence of interest in paper-based tools like notebooks in the past years, partially thanks to the popularity of productivity systems like the Bullet Journal. But while these analog tools flaunt their simplicity against the confusing complexity of electronic devices and apps, the hype has also created a new kind of problem for paper fans. Just like with the plethora of apps to choose from, some people get hung up on picking out the perfect notebook. That “analysis paralysis,” in turn, becomes the antithesis of the productivity they’re aiming for. In that case, the simplest solution is often the best, and nothing can be simpler than a few sheets of blank paper held together by the simplest clipboard you’ll ever get your hands on.

Designers: Aoki Ryosaku, Haruta Masayuki & Tsunoda Takashi of idontknow.tokyo

Click Here to Buy Now: $14.25 $19 (25% off at checkout). Hurry, sale ends on Sep 4th.

Notebooks like Moleskine and Leuchtturm have become extremely popular because of their minimalism. There are no distracting designs or embellishments, both on the covers and on the pages, leaving you free to use the notebook as you like it. You can cover it with stickers or, in the case of plain styles, mark the pages freely without worrying about printed lines or grids. These notebooks, however, are also notorious for their limitations, like being confined to the size of the notebook that you purchased as well as the number of pages available. Free or unbound sheets of paper offer absolute freedom, but keeping them together in one place can become a chore.

That’s where this clipboard comes in, offering the simplest yet smartest way to keep those pieces of paper organized in the way and order you want. Calling it a clipboard can be a bit of a misnomer, though, because there isn’t any clip at all. Instead, you have a flap on one edge of the cover that tightly squeezes the sheets of paper, almost like a clip. Without any sort of clip mechanism, the clipboard can close almost completely flat except for the small margin on the spine that lets it accommodate as many as 20 sheets of paper at a time. If that’s not enough paper, there’s a pocket on the cover that lets you hide a few more sheets.

This spine also has a secret that’s almost genius in its simplicity. There are two holes near each end, and you can choose one or the other to clip your pen into. When the clipboard is closed, you’ll only see the pen’s clip on the outside. Flip the cover lid open, and you’ll have immediate access to your trusted writing tool.

The Hinge clipboard’s simplicity is its strength. You don’t have to worry about fancy mechanisms or secret features that get in the way of your thoughts. Simply flip it open, pull out your pen, and start writing or drawing. The lid’s material is sturdy enough to be a flat surface to write on even when you’re standing up. And unlike notebooks, you get to decide on how many sheets of paper you want to bring with you or which notes to carry to your meeting. It also lays completely flat, taking up the minimum space needed just for paper and pen.

We sometimes think too hard to come up with smart solutions to our problems when the smartest answer is sometimes the simplest one. With no extraneous part that can break or wear down, this ultra-minimalist clipboard offers the simplest option for putting ideas to paper. Even in its simplicity, however, it also exhibits a bit of ingenuity, proving that the best ideas can sometimes come in the most unexpected ways.

Click Here to Buy Now: $14.25 $19 (25% off at checkout). Hurry, sale ends on Sep 4th.

The post Clip-free clipboard is the ultimate minimalist tool for your brightest ideas first appeared on Yanko Design.

This projector concept frees sticky notes from physical limits

Ever since their invention, sticky notes have almost replaced 3×5 index cards as the analog tool of choice for taking quick notes, putting reminders everywhere, and trying to make sense of a sea of notes scattered on a wall or floor. As part of the age-old battle between analog and digital, sticky notes have become one of the preferred media for pen and paper users, but it naturally carries the limitations that fellow physical tools bring with them. And like notebooks and even index cards, there are numerous attempts at bringing sticky notes into the digital realm, each with its own drawbacks. One concept tries to bridge that gap between physical and virtual with a little twist that helps address those limitations, particularly when it comes time to organize your small sticky notes into a more coherent spread.

Designer: Kyeongmin Kim

There is no shortage of tools that try to mimic the look and workflow of sticky notes, offering a nearly infinite supply of notes and the conveniences of computers and the cloud. Of course, there are plenty of note-taking apps as well, but the mentality behind small, square notes is different compared to the digital equivalent of notebooks. The space limitations force you to be more concise and more efficient in what you write down, sometimes processing and filtering your thought even before pen meets paper.

Digital sticky notes have the same psychological effects but also give you the freedom to undo what you did, backup your notes, or mix different kinds of digital objects in a single note, like links and even reminders. Unfortunately, these implementations have the ironic downside of limiting how much you can spread those notes around to organize them as you see fit. Unlike physical notes that can cover as much floor or wall space as you can afford, digital notes are practically confined to the size of your screen. Sure, you could have an infinite canvas, something that’s not possible in the physical world, but the amount of notes you will be able to see at a time is still limited to how many you can fit on a computer monitor.

The Memojector concept tries to remove those limitations while offering an experience that is actually closer to physical sticky notes. The device is slightly larger and thicker than the average square note, but its screen is almost the same size. You can write and draw on the note like you would on the paper original and the “flip” to a new blank note. It’s like having infinite sticky notes in a device that’s roughly the size of one.

What sets this device apart, however, is the built-in projector. This would allow people to use a wall like in the old days while still keeping the benefits of digital notes. An ideal implementation would use gesture detection so that users can move notes around on the wall rather than using the projector’s touch screen as an interface. It also makes for a great way to share those notes with others in a meeting without having to fill a whiteboard with actually sticky notes.

The post This projector concept frees sticky notes from physical limits first appeared on Yanko Design.

Here’s everything Samsung announced at its Unpacked 2020 event

Even after several leaks, Samsung had plenty to share at its Unpacked 2020 event today. The company officially unveiled its Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra, as well as the Galaxy Tab S7 and S7 Plus, Galaxy Watch 3 and Galaxy Buds Live. It continued to teas...

Google Assistant will place your Dunkin’ orders, finally

Google just added a handful of voice control features to Google Assistant. You can now manage notes and lists in select third-party apps, ask Assistant to search your photos, search for podcasts by topic and set reminders for the whole family. You ca...

Once Upon a Midnight Dreary Came this Edgar Allen Poe Notecard Set

I’ve often thought that in his day Edgar Allan Poe must have been whatever his generation called a goth. He had very dark ideas, and probably creeped out generations of old-timey people with thoughts of pits and sealing people into walls and whatnot. If you need a gift to give your literature teacher to get on their good side, this Edgar Allan Poe Deluxe Notecard set might do the trick for you.

The set includes a 192-page ruled pocket journal with “Edgar Allen Poe” embossed on it; also included are 20 envelopes and 20 sticker seals. The box that holds it all looks like a vintage book.

It’s a bit costly to give as a teacher’s gift at $24.99, but the value of the Christmas gift for a teacher generally depends on how badly you are doing in the class in my experience.  It might also be perfect for the melancholy modern goth on your Christmas list. You can order up the set now at ThinkGeek.

Google Assistant may soon have a web app for lists and notes

Google Assistant might soon have its own list- and note-taking functions instead of leaning on third-party apps. The 9to5Google team has sifted through the Google search app's code to discover an unannounced "Lists and Notes" web app for Assistant t...