20. Post-it Note
How many ideas were lost before its invention?
The adhesive was invented by accident. It sat around for years at 3M, patented but unused. But the company famously encouraged “bootlegging,” allowing employees to spend some of their time on projects of their own choosing. They were permitted, encouraged even, to play. Doing work they loved so much, it didn’t feel like work.
And a seeming mistake, an unlooked-for discovery of a weak adhesive that could be used repeatedly—from that accident would emerge a improbably powerful tool for capturing ideas and experimenting with thought itself. An oddly pleasing object that records, fleetingly, something that is fleeting.
The humble Post-it Note has probably only been surpassed by the personal computer in terms of impact on our work. For how did people function before the Post-it? How many stray ideas were lost and forgotten before its invention? Like the stork delivering a baby, it’s a vessel that ferries an idea from its raw inception to, ideally, a more permanent incarnation in a breakthrough project—a book chapter, a building, new software. A mass of the notes can organize complex systems demanding spatial logic, continually rearranged, clustered, and discarded. The adhesive is strong enough to stay for a while, but weak enough to be removed without damage, allowing us to change our minds.
Digital tools have tried to replicate the Post-it, but there is no replacing the tactile, kinetic, low-tech—and far more inexpensive than any digital technology—nature of this essential tool. Like all good ideas, it’s obvious in retrospect.
Special thanks to Steve Satterwhite for suggesting the Post-it Note.
Links:
“Pop Culture Post-Its: The Moments That Will Always Stick,” by Lea Palmieri, Decider, June 9, 2016
“The Power of the Post-it Note,” by Erin Urban, LinkedIn, August 19, 2014
This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 words on 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary. Through December 31, 2026.
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Not only was the media the result of an "engine of our ingenuity," but the uses to which it was applied were also inventive.
I used to feel very guilty when highlighting (another great invention, the yellow highlighter!) and writing in margins of books. (An act of desecration, IMHO) But having stacks of peel-off Post-it notes was the perfect remedy. They served as bookmarks, too. At our book club meetings, the facilitator often has a copy of the book being discussed laden with multi-colored post-it notes!