Best blackboards: At Fermilab, every office has at least one that stretches from the floor to the ceiling.
“Studmuffins of Science” Calendar
I love whiteboards — they are great to sketch out ideas, plan projects, leave notes on them for longer timeframes, look at them occasionally, and add to them whenever you have an idea. Besides the normal whiteboard, there are other very interesting alternatives:
Magic-Chart
Thin plastic foils sold by Legamaster (amazon.de, similar products available on amazon.com) that stick to nearly any smooth surface due to static electricity. They can transform a plain wall into one large Whiteboard (erasing is possible). They can also easily be taken down, rolled up and stored, or hung up somewhere else. You can also put them over each other, although you might see the one below the top foil. Perhaps not very ecologically friendly, but a very powerful way to use your walls. If you cover a wall with them and overlap the pages about a centimeter like scales facing away from the direction of the wind, they are less likely to be torn down by the wind. Of course, they can be enhanced with print-outs, post-its, etc. to have the information ready while you are standing in front of the wall.
IdeaPaint
Special wall paint that allows you to write on it by turning the wall into a dry-erase surface. The more permanent version of a Whiteboard or Magic-Charts. Ever dream of drawing on walls (or allowing your children to draw on walls)? This is your chance (http://www.ideapaint.com).
Another alternative is this system of sliding whiteboards http://www.fusionofficedesign.co.uk/product/sliding-whiteboards
which frees-up wall space and can be portable between tracks. A re-think of whiteboards.
Cool, yup, I guess when you can design the office, you have much more options available. 🙂