Collector’s Weekly is an awesome blog that covers the world of “antiques” from the Victorian era to the modern day. Everything from Daguerreotypes to screen printed posters made at Facebook’s HQ in San Francisco.
According to their excellent article a Facebook designer named Ben Berry created the “Analog Research Lab” in an unused part of the company’s headquarters. He made posters to commemorate internal hackathons, propaganda style posters to institutionalize lessons from respected managers e.g. “Done is better than perfect”, and others that helped infuse the tech and hacker focused company with a little design sense.
It speaks well of Facebook’s culture and willingness to experiment that they allow a project like this to continue. In most companies of their size, with the amount of scrutiny they receive, a project like this would be stamped out by HR or some other image focused part of the company.
It is also a great reminder that in an age where we can connect with people across the globe instantly via $200 computers in our pocket that there is still an deep human desire for tangible things. While the cost of online storage continues to plummet, the amount of space in a cubicle or living room stays roughly the same. Wall space is precious and if you decide to hang a poster it has meaning. Web meets World.
