The handbook that never was

We just recently remodeled our headquarters building at the Oregon Department of Transportation, and it has several cool new features. As we prepare to move people back in, we're giving employees a new building user's guide.

These are some illustrations from an early draft of the guide -- it was going to be an interactive PDF with little illustrations and factoids to draw people in to the text and make it kind of fun.

Alas, bureaucratic heads prevailed, so the user's guide is now a Word document that's pretty much straight text with a couple of photos and floor plans dropped in here and there. Sigh. Not that it's bad; it just could have been so much better.

This first group shows (clockwise from left) the introduction, restrictions on wall height, the new showers and locker room, noise restrictions, recycling and the new mail system.

This second set illustrates restrictions on eating at your desk (snacks are OK, but take smelly foods to the lunchroom or outside), a ban on personal fans and space heaters (the building has a very sophisticated climate control system), building policies and procedures (always a favorite), cleaning up after yourself, quiet areas, and (center) an orientation to your new cubicle.