And that original canary yellow color? That was an accident, too! The 3M team that first developed the product used leftover canary-yellow scrap paper from a nearby laboratory. They soon became one of the most popular office products in the world. Unfortunately, it was not an immediate success.Īfter a successful product test in Boise, Idaho, 3M released the renamed Post-it ® Notes nationwide in 1980. 3M launched the product under the name “Press 'n Peel' in 1977 in four cities. The rest, as they say, is history…Īrt Fry came up with the idea of using Dr. It worked wonderfully! The bookmarks stayed in place, but he could move and reattach them easily without harming any of the pages. Silver's adhesive and tried some on his bookmarks. He became frustrated when the bookmarks he used to mark his place in his hymnal kept falling out. Silver's at 3M, was singing in his church choir. For the next five years, he promoted his new invention within 3M, but no one could think of a way to use it. Silver had a new invention, but he didn't know what to do with it. He was trying to invent a super-strong adhesive, but he came up with a super-weak one instead.Īt the time, it was a solution without a problem! Dr. Spencer Silver, a chemist at 3M Company, invented a unique, low- tack adhesive that would stick to things but also could be repositioned multiple times. Would you believe that they're a wonderful invention that happened totally by accident? It's true!

In school, at work, and at home - everywhere you go, people have and use sticky notes all the time. People all around the world use sticky notes every day. Today, sticky notes can be found in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors. Post-it ® notes started out as three-inch squares that were canary yellow in color. The adhesive allows the notes to be attached to a wide variety of documents and surfaces - and removed and reattached multiple times. Sticky notes - also known as Post-it ® notes or repositionable notes - are small pieces of paper that feature a light adhesive on the back. Need to leave a note for your parents to remind them to sign your field trip permission form? Want to make a quick list of the stuff you need at the grocery store? Chances are you need some sticky notes!

Quick notes on a book