Post-It Note Guerrilla Art
A method for politely subverting office culture
Guerrilla art is typically not appreciated in office settings. I tried it anyway. This is the story of how I used Post-it Notes and some psychology to get people in my office to embrace creativity.
A quick psychology lesson. Indulge me…
Are you familiar with the halo effect? It’s a psychological situation where you associate positive feelings about something based on unrelated surrounding events. A practical example is sugar. The person with the candy jar on their desk is not just being generous, they probably intuitively understand the halo effect. They know that sugar makes people feel good and some of those good feelings rub off on them. It also activates the impulse for reciprocation. The person bringing donuts knows that the gift is worth the expense for intangible reasons.
I was studying biases when the idea of drawing candy struck me. I was trying to solve a problem. For the average person, working with a designer can feel risky because it pushes them out of their comfort zone. Creative solutions are uncertain, break patterns, and are unproven because of their novelty. Most people give creativity lip service but when it comes time to choose, they pick perceived safety every time. Could the halo effect help me get more traction with my colleagues? It was worth a try.
I theorized that if I drew pictures of candy it might have the same effect as a candy bowl. My plan was that every time I grabbed a piece of candy I would take it to my desk and draw it. This had a nice side-benefit of reducing my candy consumption because drawing takes time. I didn’t want these drawings to be too precious so I drew them on sticky notes which had the added benefits of being bright neon.
When someone was away from their desk I would sneak over, stick the drawing to their monitor or cubicle wall and walk away. They would return and discover an anonymous gift. It was sugar without the calories. But it also left a bit of joyful residue in its wake. The halo was linked to artwork and novelty from the design department.
The office started to fill with sticky notes of my candy drawings. Eventually the word got out that I was the person behind them. It got a little awkward because I couldn’t get to everyone and naturally some people felt intentionally left out. But also there was a sense of anticipation that at any moment something fun and one-of-a-kind could appear and break up the cubicle monotony of corporate life.
When Covid hit people left their sticky note art behind. I had a chance to visit the empty office. While I was there I walked the rows of cubicles looking for my candy drawings. When I found them I would steal them. The cleaning crew would inevitably take the blame, but who would complain about stolen sticky notes? The halo disappeared.
Did I activate the halo effect? It’s impossible to say. These things can’t be measured. For those of us who have endured life in corporate jobs it can be hard to maintain your creativity. One solution is to separate your creative life from your day job. Another option is to watch for little ways to subvert the workplace emptiness in unexpected ways. Perhaps a small drawing on a sticky note is the tiny jolt of joy that your co-workers need to survive another day.
Stay creative. Your friend,
Ade
P.S. If this essay feels a little different than my normal ranting that’s because it’s a remix of something I wrote for LinkedIn as part of my Things you NEVER say on your resume series. If you’re curious, you might enjoy these additional no-nos. Don’t ever say:
The candy bowl comparison hit me. I went back to waiting tables a while ago and ended up doing something similar, making sculptures from pizza boxes and receipts, turning every shift into a kind of performance. I called the whole body of work "Waiting." Same instinct as your sticky notes: finding the art in the thing that wasn't supposed to be art.
I might or might not adopt this fantastic method. At the end of last year, I made it a personal goal to, at the very least, create one drawing every day. Why? Because I felt that a part of my artistic skillset was gradually diminishing over the years. While I have my own system for this (daily “Field Notes” that feature a small illustration), I can definitely expand and incorporate more practice into my days when I’m in the office for my hybrid schedule. I’m so grateful to have read this essay today. Thank you!