Grouping Notes Through Nodes: The Functions of Post-It Notes in Design Team Cognition

The Post-ItTM note is a frequently used, and yet seldom studied, design material. We investigate the functions Post-ItTM notes serve when providing cognitive support for creative design team practice. Our investigation considers the ways in which Post-ItTM notes function as design externalisations, both individually and when grouped, and their role in categorisation in semantic long-term memory. To do this, we adopt a multimodal analytical approach focusing on interaction between humans, and between humans and artefacts, alongside language. We discuss in detail examples of four different externalisation functions served by Post-ItTM notes, and show how these functions are present in complex overlapping combinations rather than being discrete. We then show how the temporal development of Post-ItTM note interactions supports categorisation qualities of semantic long-term memory.