Notice boards are one of the simplest, most effective, affordable, and intelligent additions to an office space.
Then, here is a quick guide to the different types that are most commonly and popularly used within UK business office Boards, to help you pick the right ones for your business, office, and staff.
White Boards
Whiteboards are by far the most commonly used type of notice board within an office. Providing a crisp white surface on which messages, memos, and information can be directly written and easily washed off, white boards enable staff to efficiently and quickly relay messages and communicate with their colleagues. Just remember to invest in a good stock of dry-erase markers to prevent people from resorting to using permanent markers on a whiteboard. Fortunately dry erase markers are available from the highest street stationery shop, including Rymans and Staples here in the UK.
Further, whiteboards that require more permanent messages or the addition of lines, tables, or sections can be written with a permanent or indelible marker. When you wipe clean the dry-erase ink used on a board, the permanent marker ink will remain, allowing tables, charts, lines, headings, etc to be re-filled or filled in time and time again. A Sharpie marker is a perfect go-to marker for this purpose as it can be bought in a wide range of colors, and tips, and for use on different surfaces. Simply visit the Sharpie Pens UK website to see the entire range.
Magnetic Boards
Magnetic notice boards are quite simply standard whiteboards (the very same as those discussed above) that feature the addition of a steel sheet backing. This means that they are slightly, but not much, heavier than standard whiteboards and do tend to cost a fraction more to purchase, but they do come with additional features.
Namely, magnetic whiteboards provide the best of both worlds. That is, they can be used just as whiteboards are and so written directly upon. Meanwhile, they can also be used similarly to pinboards. Instead of using traditional pins to affix papers etc to a magnetic board though, magnets are used.
Then, a magnetic whiteboard provides double the functionality of most other notice boards. Further, additional magnetic accessories such as magnetic tape can be used to create clean, removable, and non-permanent lines, and charts and add sections to a whiteboard, which is for many preferable to writing on a board with permanent and non-washable ink when a chart is needed for several days, weeks or months.
To explore and browse a wide range of magnetic whiteboard accessories, from magnetic counters and colored tapes to magnetic sheets and even hooks, head over to the First 4 Magnets Online store.
Cork Boards
Cork boards have been around for a long time and are still relied upon today and sold widely throughout the UK. Cheap, durable, lightweight, and simple to use and maintain cork boards, provide a fantastic place on which to pin just about anything. Hence, unlike white boards there is no need to start writing up memos or reminders to read document x or sign and return document y, etc. Rather, documents, printouts, and messages can be placed straight onto a cork board for all to see.
Over time cork can perish or become brittle and crumble. Heavy use of pins can too compromise the cork surface of a board rendering it less functional. Also, there is of course no means of writing directly onto a corkboard. Hence, whilst cork boards are used within offices, they are rarely if ever in 2016 the only type of notice board used within a business office or premises.
Felt Boards
Felt boards are cork boards that are covered over with a taut sheet of durable material. This helps to prevent the cork beneath from breaking or becoming damaged and worn. It also means that felt boards are sold in a variety of colors which can make them very easy to keep an office organized and tidy; different colored boards can be used for different things. For example, a red board for memos, a blue board for updates etc.
One major drawback of opting for a felt board which is also the reason why few offices today make use of them is that like the humble cork board, they cannot be directly writing upon. Further, this can mean that papers, notes and memos which get pinned to them can quickly mount up and result in a disordered or crowded notice board. At worst, the result of this can be that messages and important notices go unnoticed.
Mobile Notice Boards
Mobile notice boards are standard white board or magnetic white boards which rather than being mounted into a wall are sold already fitted onto a frame which is further affixed with wheels. This allows, you guessed it, for a white board to be mobile.
Whilst not the most popular type of notice board used within offices, mobile white boards perhaps deserve more thought than many businesses give them. After all, mobile notice boards can be, of course, moved about. Therefore, on premises in which offices are split between different rooms or spaces and do not require numerous notice boards for constant use a mobile notice board is ideal. It can be used by everybody within a business and put to just about any use whilst negating the need to furnish or go to the cost of kitting out every meeting room, office space and sales area etc with its own notice board.
Where to View and Buy the Notice Boards Discussed Above
To view a wide and varied selection of all of the notice boards discussed above and further compare the choices available as well as gain more information as to their cost, the Noticeboards Online website is a reputable UK provider. Further, the Noticeboards Online blog is also a great place to find more and some expert advice on notice boards.