07-28-2010
Getting It Pinned Down
Having worked in our Javits office, I returned to the main office and realized I dearly missed our dry-erase magnetic white boards. I began wondering: Why do architects pin drawings to walls? Pins poke holes, eventually trashing the corners of drawings. Pins require thumbs of steel to drive them into the wall. Pin-up walls require frequent repainting to prevent the dirty appearance from pinhole shadows. Once up, a drawing requires re-pinning to align it with other drawings, thereby doubling, or tripling, the effort of the pin-up and increasing the number of holes in the wall. The pins (especially those red ones) stand out against any drawing, even more if completely mismatched in a hodgepodge of color, size, and protrusion depth. And, don't forget the inevitable fingertip punctures from reaching too quickly into the pushpin bucket.
The magnet board easily resolves these issues with one simple system. Magnets are faster, easier, ultimately cheaper, and they don't leave holes! Reuse drawings multiple times without the corners becoming tattered. Magnets don't pierce the wall; magnetic attraction gently holds the drawing between the magnet and the board. Magnets sit uniformly against the board with a consistent shadow line without any weird angles. White magnets blend with the corners of most architectural drawings. Typically round, magnets pose no real threat to fingers. Additionally, magnet boards provide an erasable drawing surface useful for collaborative design sketches. Perhaps most important, they easily adjust once on the wall. Sliding drawings into place and adjusting them is easy.
Magnetic systems, however, do have flaws. Over time, as they snap to each other, magnets leave a dusty residue on drawing corners, which can be avoided by not playing with the magnets and only snapping them to the board. Cheap magnet wallpapers are no substitute for magnet boards: they are not easily cleaned; magnets have poor attraction; and, the wall appears bumpy and uneven. Finally, small magnets have less holding power than large magnets. As problematic as these issues are, they can be overcome.
At the end of the day the most important argument is cost. Pinning costs the price of pins and periodic repainting of the pin-up surface (and occasional band-aids). Magnetic systems require magnets and boards mounted in the pinup area. While the initial cost for the magnetic system is significant, it is a pittance relative to the time lost by teams using a pin system. Even if magnetic whiteboard systems have a higher upfront cost, they would pay for themselves within a few years. Maybe I'm nuts, but it seems like a no-brainer.
The magnet board easily resolves these issues with one simple system. Magnets are faster, easier, ultimately cheaper, and they don't leave holes! Reuse drawings multiple times without the corners becoming tattered. Magnets don't pierce the wall; magnetic attraction gently holds the drawing between the magnet and the board. Magnets sit uniformly against the board with a consistent shadow line without any weird angles. White magnets blend with the corners of most architectural drawings. Typically round, magnets pose no real threat to fingers. Additionally, magnet boards provide an erasable drawing surface useful for collaborative design sketches. Perhaps most important, they easily adjust once on the wall. Sliding drawings into place and adjusting them is easy.
Magnetic systems, however, do have flaws. Over time, as they snap to each other, magnets leave a dusty residue on drawing corners, which can be avoided by not playing with the magnets and only snapping them to the board. Cheap magnet wallpapers are no substitute for magnet boards: they are not easily cleaned; magnets have poor attraction; and, the wall appears bumpy and uneven. Finally, small magnets have less holding power than large magnets. As problematic as these issues are, they can be overcome.
At the end of the day the most important argument is cost. Pinning costs the price of pins and periodic repainting of the pin-up surface (and occasional band-aids). Magnetic systems require magnets and boards mounted in the pinup area. While the initial cost for the magnetic system is significant, it is a pittance relative to the time lost by teams using a pin system. Even if magnetic whiteboard systems have a higher upfront cost, they would pay for themselves within a few years. Maybe I'm nuts, but it seems like a no-brainer.