Do you know how Post It notes came to be? It was a happy accident that now allows us to keep track of things in many different ways! Be sure to watch the ending for a laugh!
[Video Description: Alicia, an Asian woman with long straight brown hair, is wearing a dark green short sleeve blouse. She is sitting on a gray couch with rust colored pillows behind her. On the wall is a bookshelf, plant, and yellow and white curtains.]
Do you know how Post It notes came to be? It was a happy accident that now allows us to keep track of things in many different ways! Be sure to watch the ending for a laugh! [Video Description: Alicia, an Asian woman with long straight brown hair, is wearing a dark green short sleeve blouse. She is sitting on a gray couch with rust colored pillows behind her. On the wall is a bookshelf, plant, and yellow and white curtains.] Transcript: Post-It Notes. They have a ton of benefits! They have helped people organize their thoughts and set reminders, maybe like this… Obviously that reminder didn’t stick been used for book markers for example: and labeling objects. Also, Post-Its have become a standard supply in many workspaces, schools and homes. In the beginning, however, it was not obvious if the Post-It Note would be so widely adapted, or even have a use for the invention. The history of the Post-It Note starts with the adhesive. In the beginning, Dr. Spencer Silver, a scientist at the company 3M, was working on a project to create an adhesive that was stronger and tougher. One of the materials that came out of that development was quite the opposite. The material, composed of large molecular “microspheres” that gave the gel unique properties, allowed it to keep its stickiness over many uses and ease of removal from the surfaces it was attached to. Once the adhesive was discovered, Dr. Silver struggled to find an application for it. Cue one of Dr. Silver’s co-workers, Art Fry. Art sang in his church choir and would often lose his place in the hymnal as the pieces of paper he was using for bookmarks fell out before the songs were sung. He was looking for a bookmark that would stick to, but not damage, the pages. Silver and Fry ended up partnering together and began to not only use the new creation as a bookmark but send messages around the office as well. Although employees at 3M really liked the new product, it took years for marketing and managers at 3M to see its value and start selling it to offices around the country. In fact, in 1977, during a limited product launch in 4 cities, the managers appeared to be correct with only a few sales being made. Instead of marking it as a failure and giving up on the new product, there was one more attempt to test the product in the market by sending out large numbers of free Post-It Note samples and offering the companies re-ordering options. After trying out the Post-It Notes, almost 90% of the test companies decided to re-order the product. Shortly after, Post-It Notes were everywhere. But why “Canary Yellow”? Just like the adhesive and product design, that also was generated out of happenstance. As Silver and Fry were prototyping, working on the process to apply the adhesive to paper, the lab next door only had yellow scrap paper available. From that point forward, the color stuck. Many inventions start out solving one problem but end up solving and being used in applications far beyond the imagination of the inventor. Do you have a clever way that you have used the Post-It Note? Hey Alicia! What’s up, Barbara? You have a challenge for me? Sure! I’m down!
