Protecting your desk: film, desk pad and reflections

Anyone who wants to protect their desk usually ends up with a desk pad: a loose mat of leather, felt or plastic that lies on the panel. Depending on the material it is one to a few millimetres thick, covers only where it lies and can be shifted. It suits you if the panel is oiled, waxed or raw or if you want a soft surface for writing or for the mouse.

Our protective film is something different: a transparent, self-adhesive cut piece, a fraction of a millimetre thick. It is aligned wet, squeegeed and adheres to the panel, nothing slips. The panel stays visible. For that it needs a smooth, closed surface, and it is not a soft pad.

The two can be combined: anyone who likes to write on a soft surface places a loose pad on the protected panel. The film then takes the marks of the edge and the shelves, the pad provides comfort. That is a matter of habit, not of technology.

Both work. The whole panel if the film is to lie invisibly and you no longer want to see it. Only the area in front of you if you want to cover the zone that really sees wear: mouse, keyboard and forearms.

The work zone is smaller and cheaper; its edge then lies visibly on the panel. That is a matter of taste. Anyone who values a calm look takes the whole panel; anyone who wants to save or protect only one spot takes the zone.

With the work zone you decide the size yourself: a rectangle in the dimensions that are enough for mouse, keyboard and forearms. For this it is best to measure, while seated, the zone your arms actually sweep, and add a few centimetres.

Clear and Premium Clear leave the look of the panel as it is: a glossy panel stays glossy, a matte one stays matte. That means if your desk lamp or the window is reflected in the panel, it is reflected in the film too.

Anyone who wants to get rid of reflections from lamp and window takes Matte. It is matte-transparent: the panel shows through, the gloss does not. If you cover the whole panel with Matte, it takes the gloss on the entire surface; with a work zone only there.

So Matte changes the look deliberately. Check it beforehand with the sample set on your panel, especially on dark surfaces.

Coated, painted and sealed panels are suitable, as is glass. That is the normal case for desks made of melamine, laminate and painted wood. Oiled, waxed and raw panels are not; there the loose pad fits better.

If you do not know how your panel is treated, send us a photo of the whole surface and a detail of surface and edge. We help with the assessment and, if in doubt, check adhesion on a sample.

Freshly painted panels need at least four weeks of curing beforehand, otherwise the adhesive can leave marks in the paint. Clean the panel free of grease and dust before applying; on glass and dark surfaces every speck of dust under the clear film is noticeable.

Measure the panel or the zone as a rectangle, in centimetres, accurate to a millimetre. If the panel has rounded corners, you also give the corner radius in millimetres. A cable pass-through becomes a cut-out that you provide as a freeform via a template.

For desks that are used every day we recommend Premium Clear: thicker and self-healing for fine scratches. For reflections, Matte. The edge of the film sits at the panel edge or two to three millimetres behind it.