A few months back I posted a question on the International Forum of Visual Practitioners Linked In Group asking:
Has anyone made a portable ‘wall’ (that fits into a car) to bring to meetings that don’t have great walls and if so, do you have tips or a guide to share?
People shared loads of ideas including buying walls from Neuland or Athenaeum as well as home made ideas such as using foam core, gatorboard, and rigid insulation to name a few.
I spent time visiting the local hardware stores, sign making shop and office supply store trying to find my material of choice. I knew it was experimental so didn’t want to spend too much money. In the end, I came across some 1/4 inch foam core that had been printed on one side for a project but had errors so was destined for the landfill. The backside was plain white. Aha – my chance!!
Due to odd sizes of the 4 foam core boards, I cut them to fit a 4×8 piece of paper and taped it together with white duct tape.
The widthwise seams are solid and don’t fold as one is on the top section and the other is on the bottom section. The center seam is taped on the back and foldable so it fits in the back of my car. The best place I found is in the backseat, straight up and down, leaning against the seat. It also fits in the hatch back on an angle.
I clip paper to the edges of the board rather than using tape which is great and keeps the paper looking nice. To date, I have leaned the board against the wall on top of a table and stretched across to write or use it simply to tell a story via a pre-drawn mind map or something. It’s a little flimsy for a tripod which may be due to the less-than-thick nature of the board.
I am somewhat satisfied with the output as for a practically free experiment, its useful for holding visuals where the walls aren’t great and a good back-up to bring along when you aren’t sure of the room you are going to work in. I am pleased to say I used it last week when I encountered mediocre walls in a condo meeting room setting. I leaned the board (holding a large mind-map ‘visual summary’) across a mantle over a fireplace and people could view it and discuss it from different parts of the room. It seemed to work well! On the flip side, I don’t find it rigid enough to really write on with haste.
Thanks to the IFVP discussion group for all the ideas and motivation 🙂
