When you think about Facebook, a small printed book is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. An app, a feed, maybe a notification you were trying to ignore. But a little red book? Yes, that was part of the story too.
Designer Ben Barry helped turn some of the company’s stories and ideas into a book for employees. These illustrations look at the idea behind that project, rather than reproducing its original pages.
The problem was not a shortage of information
In his interview with TypeRoom, Barry explained that Facebook was growing quickly and bringing in many new people. The earlier employees knew the discussions and decisions behind the way the company worked. New arrivals did not always have that context.
Some of it was buried in old online discussions and wiki pages. Some of it was in people’s heads. So even if the information technically existed, getting hold of the useful bits was another matter.
Sounds familiar, right? You join somewhere new and everybody refers to an old project as if you were there when it happened. You nod along. Then you quietly try to work out what they were talking about.
So they made something you could actually pick up
The book gathered company ideas into a package people could read and keep. It was a way to share context, rather than expecting every new employee to discover the same background on their own.
The printing side fits into another part of Barry’s work. He and Everett Katigbak helped establish Facebook’s Analog Research Laboratory, a place for making printed work and exploring company culture through design.
A digital company, with a very physical reminder
That is the interesting twist here. A company built around sharing things on screens also used ink, paper and a small object on a desk. You did not need to find the right old message before you could open it.
A book will not explain every decision a company makes, of course. But the idea is quite simple. If you want people to understand where you are going, it helps to tell them how you got there.
Would a little book like this help when starting a new job? Probably more than being told “you will figure it out” on your first morning.
