The Power of Post-it Notes

I can't believe that Post-it Notes are over 40 years old. I'm showing my age by saying that I do remember life before them. When those bright yellow squares jumped on the scene, people went nuts over something so simple.

They were invented when two scientists at 3M got together. One had discovered a weak adhesive when he was trying to develop strong ones. The other scientist had been frustrated at the bookmarks falling out of his hymn books. The two got together to  solve this problem, they had a eureka moment. They realised that it wasn’t just a sticky bookmark that they had created, it was a whole new way to communicate. And here we are a few decades later still using them.

Never-ending uses 

The list of things that these sticky notes have been used for is endless. The Post-it website has a huge "Ideas" section, showing you how to use them to help productivity, creativity, connections, and education.

Who would have thought that they would be used for a "Guess Who" game, where the post it is stuck on your forehead. Or used to capture dust from drilling a hole in a wall. Or decorating the edges of computer screens with endless reminders.

In and on your screen

Post-its now are not just around the screen, they are in our screens. There's the Stickies app on the mac (one of my favourites), and the Microsoft Sticky Notes app for Windows.

Why are they still so popular in their physical or virtual state?  Is it because they create an artificial constraint for us. You can only write so much on them. You are restricted, so your mind is forced to get right to the point. Thoughts can be quickly externalised onto the note. They don’t feel permanent, they can be tossed away if irrelevant or finished with. 

Size is everything

Their small size allows them to clutter to much of our space and minds. But they are easily accessible when we need them. To run through a small checklist, or to glance at a reminder.

More than one Post-it can be viewed together, arranged in a pattern to allow for creativity. Processes can be built, ideas formulated, discoveries made. They can be displayed for more than one person to see together, to enable discussion, and reposition of the notes to reflect changes of thought.

What I love the most from the Post-it notes 40 year journey, is that the inventors had not seen the hundreds of ways that they could and have been used. Such a simple concept that helps to shape the world around us.