Brighten Your Work Day

Most of us spend a huge portion of our lives at work and the tired old bulletin board is a staple fixture that has changed little more over time than the outdated or ignored materials that adorn them. Just as chalk eventually gave way to dry erase and more recently digital, I felt it was time for the venerable bulletin board to have a renaissance.

My goal was to create a visually appealing and interactive area where people would find relevant and engaging content. Technology allowed me to do that in a way that was not possible until recently.

We are drawn to light and I wanted to use that attraction to engage people with content. I decided to use RGB LED strips to backlight each of the communication boards that I made from 4x8 sheets of plywood and painted in vibrant colors. As materials or content are updated on each of the boards, I am able to flash or fade the LED backlighting to draw attention to the board. This is a great non-verbal way for me to communicate, “Hey, something is new here!” I am no longer adding something in hopes someone may notice, but the light encourages the curious nature of people and they do take note and are more likely to be engaged.

I was not content to simply “slap” some LED’s on a bulletin board. No, the opportunity to leverage the same technology that drives those LED’s to measure empirically whether people are engaging with each of the boards or not was too great and the data too valuable. I borrowed a page from the “web marketing” playbook and am able to measure “visits” to each of the boards as well as the time each of those visitors spend. I can demonstrate the type of content that people are more likely to engage with and can use that learning to develop materials that won’t be ignored!

The same microprocessor that controls the LED’s and receives input from the IR sensor is Wi-Fi enabled, so I am able to receive and send information to the devices from my computer.

Some people would argue that it is only a matter of time before giant computer screens replace the bulletin board entirely, but there is something pleasing to many of us about the three dimensional characteristics and ability to touch and feel that separates it from a glassy flat screen. Plus, my entire connected wall of communication boards takes less power to operate than your average desk lamp. That’s far less than a wall full of monitors for a much lower price.

My project allows people to become enlightened in the workplace!