Ever wondered why your proposal always ends up at the bottom of the pile on your boss’ desk? Here is an idea how to make your paper documents stand up from the crowd with minimum investment.

All you need is:

CR1616 battery in a package,

blue-red 3 mm light emitting diode (LED) with 3 V input voltage, and

a standard metal paper clip.

Make a hole in the paper side of the battery package as shown:

Trim the top part of the plastic part of the package:

Feed the paper clip under the battery through this hole:

Make sure that the paper clip is sticking out on the other side of the package:

Feed one of the LED’s legs through the hole in the plastic part of the package. Make sure it touches the battery:

Position the other leg of the LED on the opposite side of the package so that it can touch the other side of the battery:

If you now stick the whole thing on top of the paper sheet so that the sheet goes between the paper clip and one of the LED’s legs:

This will bring both legs of the LED in contact with the battery and woohoo - your paper sheet is no longer “just another document in a pile”!

Worked for me the other day - made my boss laugh at first, but then he finally looked at the proposal I was trying to show him for ages!

P.S. If the LED doesn’t light up when legs are in contact with both sides of the battery, try turning the LED around so that the leg that was touching “+” touches “-”.