Post-it note
Encyclopedia
Stationery
Stationery has historically meant a wide gamut of materials: paper and office supplies, writing implements, greeting cards, glue, pencil case etc.-History of stationery:...
with a re-adherable strip of adhesive on the back, designed for temporarily attaching notes to document
Document
The term document has multiple meanings in ordinary language and in scholarship. WordNet 3.1. lists four meanings :* document, written document, papers...
s and other surfaces. Although now available in a wide range of colours, shapes, and sizes, Post-it notes are most commonly a 3 inches (7.6 cm) square, canary yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
in colour. A unique low-tack adhesive
Adhesive
An adhesive, or glue, is a mixture in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adheres or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. The types of materials that can be bonded are vast but they are especially useful for bonding thin materials...
allows the notes to be easily attached and removed without leaving marks or residue.
Post-it notes were invented by 3M
3M
3M Company , formerly known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation based in Maplewood, Minnesota, United States....
's Art Fry, using an adhesive developed by a colleague, Spencer Silver
Spencer Silver
Spencer Ferguson Silver is an American chemist who, together with Arthur Fry, invented Post-it notes in 1970.Silver was born in San Antonio, Texas. He majored in chemistry at Arizona State University, earning a B.S...
. Until the 1990s, when the patent expired, they were produced only in the 3M plant in Cynthiana, Kentucky
Cynthiana, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 6,258 people, 2,692 households, and 1,639 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,873.6 people per square mile . There were 2,909 housing units at an average density of 870.9 per square mile...
. Although other companies now produce sticky or repositionable notes, most of the world's Post-it Brand notes are still made in Cynthiana.
The term "Post-it" and the canary yellow colour are registered trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
s of 3M. "Sticky Note", likewise, is a trademark of Société Bic
Société Bic
Société Bic is a company based in Clichy, France, founded in 1945, by Baron Marcel Bich known for making disposable products including lighters, magnets, ballpoint pens, shaving razors and watersports products. It competes in most markets against Faber-Castell, Global Gillette, Newell Rubbermaid...
. Accepted generic terms for competitors include "repositionable notes" and "repositional notes". To take advantage of the success of the brand, 3M manufactures other products related to the Post-it concept.
History
In 1968, Dr. Spencer SilverSpencer Silver
Spencer Ferguson Silver is an American chemist who, together with Arthur Fry, invented Post-it notes in 1970.Silver was born in San Antonio, Texas. He majored in chemistry at Arizona State University, earning a B.S...
, a chemist at 3M in the United States, 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. Fry then developed the idea by taking advantage of 3M's officially sanctioned "permitted bootlegging
Bootlegging (business)
In economics and business administration literature, Kenneth E. Knight introduced the notion bootlegging in 1967. Bootlegging is defined as research in which motivated individuals secretly organize the innovation process. It usually is a bottom-up, non-programmed activity, without the official...
" policy. 3M launched the product in stores in 1977 in four cities under the name "Press 'n Peel", but its results were disappointing. A year later, in 1978, 3M issued free samples to residents of Boise, Idaho
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
, and 95 percent of the people who tried them said that they would buy the product. On April 6, 1980, the product debuted in US stores as "Post-It Notes". In 1981, Post-its were launched in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
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.
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.
The yellow colour was chosen by accident; a lab next-door to the Post-it team had scrap yellow paper, which the team initially used.
Use in art
In 2004, Paola Antonelli, a curator of architecture and design, included Post-it 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 by covering her whole bedroom with $1000 worth of the notes, using the ordinary yellow for objects she saw as having less value and neon colours for more important objects, such as the bed. Since 2002, Jésica López of Monterrey, MexicoMonterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...
, has been painting series of figures and portraits with acrylic on Post-it notes to depict, for instance, the faces of the "101 most powerful women" identified in the Forbes list
Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women
Starting in 2004, Forbes magazine has made a list of the 100 most powerful women in the world. It is edited by editor Mary Ellen Egan, and based on visibility and economic impact...
of 2006. Some artists create entire murals of colored Post-it notes.
In 2000 the 20th anniversary of Post-it notes was celebrated by having artists create artworks on the notes. One such work, by the artist R. B. Kitaj
R. B. Kitaj
Ronald Brooks Kitaj was an American artist who spent much of his life in England.-Life:Born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, near Cleveland, United States, his Hungarian father, Sigmund Benway, left his mother, Jeanne Brooks, shortly after he was born and they were divorced in 1934. His mother was the...
, sold for £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
640 in an auction, making it the most valuable Post-it note on record.
In 2003, the Post-it note had a central role in a new play, Inside a Bigger Box (written by Trish Harnetiaux and directed by Jude Domsky), that premiered in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
at the 78th Street Theatre. In conjunction with the show, Harnetiaux, Domski and the artists' non-profit organization NurtureART curated an International Post-it Brand Note Art exhibit and a panel discussion with various artists. Post-it inventor Art Fry participated in the panel, which was curated by the current Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
head of design Paola Antonelli.
Use in technology
Analogues of Post-it notes have also been used in technology in the form of desktop notesDesktop notes
Desktop notes are computer applications that allow putting Post-it note-like windows on the screen, with reminders, short notes and other clippings...
—computer applications developed to allow users to put virtual notes on their computer desktop. These computerized versions of Post-it notes include 3M's own "Post-it Brand Software Notes", Apple's "Stickies" and Windows 7's "Sticky Notes". Additionally, some web applications have developed Post-it sort notes for online use.
External links
—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