In a studio or a dorm the desk is also the dining table and the workbench, so it is the surface that has to look presentable most often. Nine times out of ten the thing making it look bad is not the clutter on top. It is the cables underneath.
Bundle the slack, do not cut it
Cables tangle because nothing holds them together, and the standard answer, single-use zip ties, is wrong for a desk. Desks change. You add a monitor, you move the lamp, and every zip tie becomes a small act of vandalism with scissors.
Reusable silicone ties solve the same problem without the commitment. Twenty-four of them is more than one desk needs, which is the point: the leftovers end up on the TV, behind the router, and in the drawer where charging cables go to die.
Stop the charger falling behind the desk
There is always one cable you plug in daily, and it is always the one that slides off the back edge and has to be fished up again. This is a five-minute fix that stays fixed.
Adhesive cable clips stick to the desk edge and hold the cable end where your hand expects it. Clean the surface first with something that leaves no residue, press for thirty seconds, and leave it an hour before loading it. Most complaints about adhesive clips are really complaints about putting weight on them too early.
Do it in this order
Unplug everything, bundle the runs that never change, clip the two or three cables you touch daily to the edge, and put the rest behind the desk where you cannot see them. It is not a project. It is one coffee.