PDMS Our People Wall

Creating a special display for our 25th celebrations 

2018 is PDMS’ 25th year in business and as part of our anniversary celebrations, we decided to create a people wall in our Isle of Man and Glasgow offices. One of my colleagues had the idea of making our own ‘Top Trump’ cards for each member of staff to put the spotlight on each staff member’s individual personality and interests.

Here at PDMS, our people are what makes it such an enjoyable atmosphere to work in. We wanted to show everyone how much they make the company what it is and how together we all make it a successful business.

However, in the process of researching we discovered that our staff have all sorts of unusual and interesting secrets! Some fun facts included knowing the location of every post box on the Island, having secret musical talents or keeping hundreds of pet insects. Weird right?!

Preparing the people cards

My role in this project was to be the Project Manager (I liked the sound of that!) I had the job of organising what everyone was doing and keeping track of the progress the project was making. There were quite a few different jobs that needed to be done including:

• Having walls painted (thank you Prospero)
• Applying 'Our People' lettering to the wall (thank you Paul at Signrite)
• Installing cables to hold the cards
• Taking photographs of the staff
• Writing the copy for each card 
• Designing and printing the cards themselves

People walls in the Isle of Man and Glasgow

Another challenge was having to create two walls – one in Isle of Man and one in Glasgow, which we wanted to look the same. We wanted to include staff from both offices on each wall, so we had to coordinate the fun facts and photos between each office.

We’d agreed on a target date to coincide with our 25th birthday party in September, so there was also a time pressure to make sure we had everything in place by then.

This was a big learning curve for me as I got to experience what it is like managing a project and taking the responsibility for making sure all the different tasks were completed on time – and in the right order. I also had the job of designing and producing the cards.

Positive staff feedback

When we initially announced that we were making a people wall, most of the staff were very excited and positive about the project. Each staff member needed a photo and I wasn’t sure how well this would go down.  However, all the staff got really into the spirit of creating funny and silly photos!

Once we’d got the photographs together and Jim had written some good copy for each member of staff, I put together the layouts for the cards in Adobe Illustrator and we ran some test prints from our print supplier. We had them printed and laminated on to foamcore board which is light and strong, and we bought small pegs to hold them on the cables we installed.

Everyone thinks the end result looks great and we’ve had lots of positive feedback from staff and from visiting clients. One visitor was so impressed she asked if she could borrow the idea to do the same in her workplace!

In conclusion

Although planning, designing and completing the wall took a bit longer than anticipated, the effect of the PDMS people wall was worth the effort and cost. I think that wall gives a very bright and warm welcome to anyone visiting the office. It allows visitors to get to know things about the staff before even meeting them. Or if you know some of our staff already, you might discover some of their darkest or little-known secrets!

If your curiosity gets the better of you, feel free to call into our offices in Isle of Man or Glasgow for a look.

If you'd like to appear on our People Wall, find out more about joining our team