As a professional organizer, I've worked with people who take notes on Post-its and other small pieces of paper—and then wind up with those notes getting buried in piles of papers on their desks. I've seen bills get buried and neglected, too. We've mentioned desk organizers before, but there are some other designs which focus specifically on keeping papers visible.

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The A Clip from Monkey Business, designed by Yaakov Kaufman, nicely serves two functions: it holds blank notes and it provides a place to display them. The end user just presses the base and the clip opens. 

I'm wondering how easy to use that clip would be for an end user with arthritis, though. Also, it's unclear what size those notes are; will the end user be able to readily get replacements when the original supply runs out?

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Barbara Flanagan's Tower of Clips holds a lot of papers—and can hold other items, too—with a vertical orientation that saves space. Another nice thing: It's made of remnant steel from the tabletop industry. One disadvantage is that the papers will be held flat, which makes them harder to see. And again, working those clips might be a challenge for some end users.

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Babel, from Adam+Harborth Design, has the same vertical orientation but uses slots for the papers rather than clips; that will be easier on the hands for some end users. 

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Other designs take standard bulletin boards and convert them for desktop use. Can Uludag did that with his design of Corcho, a desktop cork board. 

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Susie Frazier did something similar, creating a desktop magnetic board made from reclaimed steel. Both of these designs are simple to use and could work well for end users who are only concerned with a limited number of small papers. End users who want a design that will also handle larger papers, such as bills, will want to look elsewhere.

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End users who take notes on index cards might appreciate the note card bleachers from Levenger. One nice feature: There are slots in the back for extra cards and four pens. However, I can see those note cards flying everywhere on a desktop frequented by cats or in a room with a poorly directed fan. 

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Berra is a paper holder from Karimoku New Standard, designed by Lucien Gumy. It uses wooden counterweights on a sloped base to hold papers in place; that seems more secure than the note card bleachers.

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The Fierzo desk organizer from Alessi, designed by Julie Richoz, allows papers of various sizes to be readily visible. There are two bended steel frames, held together with clamps; the papers are inserted between the two frames. One drawback: This is another design that some end users with physical limitations might find difficult to use. 

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The Snap-It-Up Organizer designed by Barbara Flanagan, with its big rubber bands, looks easy to use, and it can hold some pens or pencils along with the papers. The only problem is that those rubber bands could break, especially if they are overstretched or kept in direct sunlight. And some purchasers have indeed reported problems with the bands breaking.