It has a short-hair carpet surface, allowing some traction so that your chair won't just slide across it. But at the same time it does not prevent the chair from easily moving around if you give it just a little push. I think that's exactly what a floor mat for a desk chair is supposed to do. Right? The bottom side is a thin plastic sheet, it does not have any ridges or needles because it is made for HARD floors like wood or tile, not for carpeted floors. It provides enough friction that the mat will not slide around after you put it down, but it is flat and smooth so it will not scratch or otherwise damage the floor surface.It's a big rectangle, with a smaller rectangular tab on one side that you can put under the desk so you end up with coverage there, too. Some floor mats don't have that tab so either you need to lift the desk and put it on the mat too, or else you have the front wheel of your chair falls off the mat whenever you pull up to your desk. The tab is a nice touch. Makes it easier to use, and prevents your front wheel from scratching up the floor underneath your desk.It comes folded up in a tiny package, so when it's brand new out of the box it will have some creases from being folded up for shipping. These should not pose any problems though; the instructions suggest you can briefly iron the mat to undo the creases, but really all you need to do is put a chair on top of it and use it for two or three days and the creases will gradually shrink until they're gone.Bottom line: decent floor mat for use with a desk chair (preferably the kind with WHEELS but should also work for the kind with SOLID wood or metal legs and feet).