A Post-it note (or Sticky Note) is a piece of stationery with a re-adherable strip of adhesive on the back, designed for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. Although now available in a wide range of colours, shapes, and sizes, Post-it notes are most commonly a 3-inch (76 mm) square, canary yellow in colour. A unique low-tack adhesive allows the notes to be easily attached and removed without leaving marks or residue.
Post-it notes were invented by 3M's Art Fry, using an adhesive developed by a colleague, Spencer Silver. Until the 1990s, when the patent expired, they were produced only 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.
The term "Post-it" and the canary yellow colour are registered trademarks of 3M. "Sticky Note", likewise, is a trademark of Société Bic. 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.
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In 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver, a chemist at 3M in the United States, developed a "low-tack", reusable, pressure-sensitive adhesive.[1] 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.[2][3] Fry then developed the idea by taking advantage of 3M's officially sanctioned "permitted bootlegging" policy.[3] 3M launched the product in stores in 1977 in four cities under the name "Press 'n Peel", but its results were disappointing.[4][5] A year later, in 1978, 3M issued free samples to residents of Boise, Idaho, and 95 percent of the people who tried them said that they would buy the product.[4] On April 6, 1980, the product debuted in US stores as "Post-It Notes".[6] In 1981, Post-its were launched in Canada and Europe.[7]
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.[8]
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.[9]
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.[8] Since 2002, Jésica López of Monterrey, Mexico, 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 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, sold for £640 in an auction, making it the most valuable Post-it note on record.[10]
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 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 head of design Paola Antonelli.
Analogues of Post-it notes have also been used in technology in the form of desktop notes—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".[11] Additionally, some web applications have developed Post-it sort notes for online use.