Post-It

The logo of the brand

A Post-it note is a piece of stationery with a re-adherable strip of adhesive on the back, designed for temporarily attaching notes to documents and to other surfaces: walls, desks, computer displays, and so forth. While now available in a wide range of colors, shapes, and sizes, Post-it Brand notes are most commonly a 3-inch (76 mm) square, canary yellow in color. The notes use a unique low-tack adhesive that enables Post-it Brand notes to be easily attached and removed without leaving marks or residue, unless used on white boards.

It was invented by 3M's Art Fry using an adhesive developed by a colleague, Spencer Silver. Until the 1990s, when the patent expired, Post-it Brand notes were only produced in the 3M plant in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Although other companies now produce sticky or repositionable notes, most of the world's Post-it Brand notes are still made in Cynthiana.

A small pad of Post-It Brand notes.

The term "Post-it" and the canary yellow color are trademarks of 3M. Accepted generic terms for competitors include "sticky notes", "repositionable notes", and "repositional notes." 3M manufactures other products related to the Post-it Brand note concept, leveraging the success of the brand. Computerized versions of Post-it Brand notes include 3M's own "Post-it Brand Software Notes," and Apple's "Stickies."

History

A pad of fan-folded Post-it pop-up notes, shown still glued together

In 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M in the United States, with the help of Jesse Kops, a fellow scientist, accidentally developed a "low-tack", reusable pressure sensitive adhesive. For five years, Silver promoted his invention within 3M, both informally and through seminars, but without much success. In 1974, a colleague of his, Art Fry, who had attended one of Silver's seminars, came up with the idea of using the adhesive to anchor his bookmark in his hymnbook.^[1][2] Fry then developed the idea by taking advantage of 3M's officially sanctioned "permitted bootlegging" policy.^[2] 3M launched the product in 1977, but it failed as consumers had not tried the product^[3]. A year later 3M issued free samples to residents of Boise, Idaho, United States. 90 percent of people who tried them said that they would buy the product. By 1980, the product was being sold nationwide in the US;^[3] a year later Post-its were launched in Canada and Europe.

In 2003, the company came out with Post-it Brand Super Sticky notes, with a stronger glue that adheres better to vertical and non-smooth surfaces.^{[citation needed]}

Standard Post-it Brand notes have only partial adhesive coating on the back, along one edge. Similar products are used for specialized purposes with full adhesive coating; the US Post Office uses such yellow address labels to forward mail.

Use in art

In 2004, Paola Antonelli, a curator of architecture and design, included Post-it Brand notes in a show entitled "Humble Masterpieces." Rebecca Murtaugh is a California artist who uses Post-it notes in her artwork. In 2001, she created an installation in her bedroom using $1000 worth of Post-it Brand notes: She covered the whole room in Post-it Brand notes, using the ordinary yellow for objects she saw as having less value, and neon colors for more important objects, such as the bed.^[4] Since 2002 Jésica López from Monterrey, Mexico (1979), has been painting series of figures and portraits with acrylic on Post-it Brand notes to depict, for instance, the faces of the Forbes identified "101 most powerful women" of the "Forbes" list of 2006. Some artists create entire murals of colored Post-It Brand notes.

In 2000 the 20th anniversary of Post-it Brand notes was celebrated by having artists create their artwork on Post-it Brand notes. One note that was made by artist R. B. Kitaj sold for £640 in an auction, making it the most valuable Post-it Brand note on record.^[5]

In 2003 the Post-it Brand Note was a central role in a new play Inside a Bigger Box that premiered in New York City at the 78th Street Theatre Lab (written by Trish Harnetiaux and directed by Jude Domsky.) In conjunction with the show Harnetiaux, Domski and the artist non-profit NurtureART curated an International Post-it Brand Note Art exhibit and a panel discussion took place with various artists. Post-it Brand Note inventor Art Fry participated in the panel which was curated by current MOMA head of design Paola Antonelli.

Post-It Brand notes are also used by film producers to lay out scenes. They are a very simplistic way of story boarding on a particular project on-the-go. They allow for easy removal of an item from the story board and an easy item to shift around when deciding how to put together many different ideas into one solid shot.

Use in technology

Due to its user friendliness, post it notes have also been used in technology. Desktop notes are computer applications developed to allow users to put virtual post-it notes on their computer desktop.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Post-it notes

• U.S. Patent 3,691,140 -- Acrylate-copolymer microspheres [adhesive formula]
• Post-it homepage
• BBC news article on 20th anniversary of Post-it notes
• The Rake magazine article on 25th anniversary of Post-it notes
• Post-it Note History - The history of the Post-it note according to 3M