Thinking about “surface real estate” for 2D codes, I came to envisage printing 2D codes on post-its… You know already how much I like post-its, as ubiquitous in our environment as 2D codes… so why not combining both… like that:

Let’s have them printed; let’s people pick the information about ourselves or rooms for rent… though YES!… once I see a 2D code I can scan it with my cellphone… so no need for carrying it you may say… yet… I or others can distribute the 2D-code-post-it, place it, re-place it, dis-place it as wish (and as long as the glue stands :) The post-it is certainly a good advertising tool, as the MIT Advertising Lab, blog on the future of advertising technology posts (And I will try to develop upon this post).

In fact the post-it enables both the posting and the un-posting of notes. Maybe you remember my un-post-it calendar? Having experienced using it, I have noticed:
1. It is slightly fatiguing for the arm to write on post-its, especially when standing
2. One gets an amazing sense of achievement when all the items on the list of the day “disappear”
3. It augments stress when there is a deadline coming up… but some, like me, may work better under a little of good stress!

So I have read that not so long ago, some celebrated the 25 years anniversary of this incredible invention. As the article by Greg Beato emphasizes, this minuscule idea, soon to be big, was the invention of a man who had a vision… that an outdated management couldn’t see.

Anyway, the original post-it, mainly because of its “pixel” shape has inspired many art works based on digital pictures! The pictures of the Post-it Note Video Games Characters are good examples of PIXEL ART, of which, I think, some Post-it art pieces belong. But have a look at the Post-it Note Elvis images!

The article “The Girls Guide to Elvis” by the New Observer newspaper gives us some data: “We’re talking about a mosaic of the King, Elvis Presley himself, made from Post-it Notes. A total of 2,646 sticky notes, to be exact, on a 14-by-9-foot wall.” Tedious though to calculate how many post-it per color scheme one would need, so to calculate how many pack to get… Anyway, would you want to convert a flat image into a post-it art piece, please follow the post-it mosaic howto [updated]!

I (as well) like very much the post by the insurgent muse, “The Under-Appreciated Art of the Post-it”! The art work by Rebecca (picture below comes from the same posting) makes me think of many of the customizable-environments-and-hotel-rooms inquiries that I have been sharing with you.

But I still think that the dimension of the PACK of post-it, which gives a depth to the post-it surface, has unfortunately not been taken into close consideration. After all there might be as much jubilation to post a note as that to un-post it; and to keep un-posting it until the pack ends (Actually, I shall now revise my un-post-it calendar ;)

Hence, one of the most beautiful Post-it work of art is that of the artist VASSEVA, who I have met when drifting in the streets of Budapest (I went to Budapest for the SASE2005 conference and to give a presentation about neo-nomads). Here is a picture downloaded from her website… For me it is more about “effeuiller” (defoliate, denudate…) than “leaving a message.”

Yet I also recall the power of Post-its (mute messages) in the movie by Elia Suleiman, Divine Intervention, 2002. Poignant. On another note, the interview of the movie director in VACARME is particularly interesting, as he also “compares himself to a Bedouin, and claims his experience of nomadism…” The article is in French.