Wayfinding Systems | Design Elements to Use

Designing effective wayfinding systems and signs is crucial to most business owners, city planners, interior designers, architects, planning committees and more. Proper wayfinding allows for a smooth patron experience and in most cases is critical for the end-user to have the desired experience. For example, if you own a small business in a large campus, or perhaps in a multi-story office building, proper wayfinding allows customers who may otherwise overlook your space the opportunity to discover it, as well as enabling those who are actively seeking your space out to find it without any difficulty. This experience can create a lasting impression of your building and/or brand. The applications of proper wayfinding also extend to urban planning; the planning of cycling trails, hiking trails, and parks.

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So, what exactly constitutes effective wayfinding design?

A great wayfinding system uses the following characteristics and relies heavily on expected human behavior.

• Less thinking is better. Create a system that is clear, concise and easy to understand.
• Only show what you need to show. Wayfinding systems are not the place for information overload. Remove excessive information.
• Focus on creating a clear and easy to understand the message.

How does wayfinding work?

How do you help people navigate? The experience of navigating around a building, a city or a conservation area, for example, is all similar in one way. It&#;s built upon their actual memory of the trip coupled with signage and other elements.

Landmarks in wayfinding.

To create an easy to understand the environment, it is necessary to mark specific locations. This reinforces the recognition of places and plays a part in overseeing a larger area. Using landmarks and marking elements an area will become more visible and will be understood better in human memory. Landmarks can be statues, art, a striking building or a wayfinding sign or striking element in a landscape. These elements combined will shape the identity of this previously unknown area as seen from your user&#;s perspective.

Orientation for wayfinding systems.

When a patron knows where they are relative to other features and locations it instills confidence and helps again further define their experience. Maps are a common way to provide orientation in a wayfinding system. When designing a map make sure you are using the proper orientation from the map&#;s location so that the user can easily get a sense of what is around them and in what direction.

Navigation in wayfinding signage.

A physical reference to the direction through the wayfinding system is critical. There is a lot to be said about the confidence someone gets in an unknown area when they see direction signs at times that help them know they&#;re heading in the right direction and towards their destination.

Design in wayfinding systems.

It is essential to develop a scheme that keeps the brand&#;s identity and style in mind. With this step, you can build up a modular wayfinding system that will adapt to the built environment and the human expectations for orientation and navigation purposes. Be sure to do the proper research on the proposed or actual environment including tours, mock-ups and maintain excellent communication with the planner and design team on-site.

Wayfinding design principles.

Signage and other wayfinding devices should all be based on the same brand identity and style guide. Therefore, they must all be consistent with each other in terms of style and size and be a part of an overall system. It goes without saying, if signage or any advertising devices for that matter, allow for brand confusion, it serves as an overall detractor and doesn&#;t properly qualify customers on the services and directions you are trying to offer them.

What typeface should I use in wayfinding signage?

A signage typeface is usually a simple sans-serif type and available in various weights with a simple easy-to-read straightforward design. These types of fonts scale up and down well and are easy to read at various sizes due to the proportions. The typeface choice is a critical one and the brand&#;s identity and/or style guide may play a role depending on the project. Due to varied usage of the same type, you will want to use a typeface that offers various weights as well.

In summary, be consistent in your system and scheme, print mock-ups to test in the environment and solicit feedback. Your wayfinding system design will play a massive role in the user&#;s experience and that plays right into the branding for your client.

What is Wayfinding?

Wayfinding is knowing where you are physically, and how to get where you want to be in a space. Clear wayfinding design is intuitive and nonverbal. It helps users to access the various spaces within a building, reducing stress and increasing efficiency.

Wayfinding Design and Architecture

Wayfinding can add to interior architecture&#;s richness and variety. Articulation of built elements through variation of color, texture, and lighting helps users to orient themselves.

Take, for example, the Legacy Elementary School Library. Variations in floor colors and patterns indicate different purposes, blue dots for tutor rooms, red for lab spaces, and yellow for reading.

Architecturally, the lobby ceiling feature and glass on each end of the lobby in the Florence Little Theatre pulls guests in and through with deep magenta floor covering that leads to the theater&#;s entry.

An Architect&#;s Role

Architects should provide a robust building design that includes wayfinding &#;baked in&#; as part of the architectural experience, which then other disciplines can enhance. Even without graphic or interior designers, the architectural design of a building should communicate to end-users how to move through it, where to go and not go, where to collect, or where to rest.

Principles of Wayfinding Design

Visual Identity

Wayfinding does not have to be sign upon sign upon sign. Changes in color, large scale graphics, or interior landmarks orient users without the visual clutter. Use light and color before words. Then use words.

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At Augusta Main Library, bright vinyl on the glass made to look like books makes for easy demarcation of the children&#;s area. 

Large graphics outside of the auditorium at Marrington Middle showcase their programs and can be seen from the outside &#;indicating as you approach, in addition to signage, the use of the building.

Nodes/Landmarks

Wayfinding strategies vary by space and building type. Some spaces, especially information spaces, such as libraries or museums, are designed to be browsed or visited on multiple occasions. In Library or museum design, the stack areas and galleries can be visited individually in any order. The users reorient themselves to a circulation spine, lobby, or view.

Views to the exterior in any building allow people to &#;anchor&#; where that view is from the building&#;s interior (think: biophilic design). At Pendleton Branch Library, the adult reading area has intentional views to the old ruin.

Well-Ordered Plans

Too many choices in navigation, even when well designed, can be overwhelming for people, especially on their first visit. This means having a well-ordered plan is necessary to good wayfinding design. Limit the choices at intersections and the number of intersections. And if there&#;s a direction you don&#;t want people to go at a given intersection, use the color, lighting, and volume of the space to say &#;wrong way.&#;

At Cross High School, the Media Center floor and ceiling shape the path of travel.

Long Sight Lines

If possible, try to show people what&#;s next, by extending a sight line into the next area. Being able to see what is ahead will promote curiosity and exploration, and can reinforce the end-user&#;s mental map of the space. Most of the time those same sight lines can be used in reverse to help someone backtrack if need be.

The Salvation Army Kroc Center provides an open entry with lots of glass walls into the gym, pool, classrooms, etc.

Strategic/Storytelling Signage

Provide signage at key decision points for effective wayfinding design. Especially at intersections where taking a wrong turn would waste time or if other visual/tactile cues aren&#;t enough to help the end-user make an informed decision. Using signage to lead people back to Nodes or Landmarks will further reinforce those locations in the end-user&#;s mental map.

Storytelling Signage orients a person to where they are, what it is about, how to engage or participate further, and who to recognize for creating that particular place. 

Maps

Finally, provide a simplified map or directory. The map can highlight the same Nodes/Landmarks, use the same colors, and maybe even the same graphics as the actual architectural and interior design. Malls and museums have used this technique to great success over the years. The mall directory allows people unfamiliar with the layout to orient themselves. For people that know where things are, the directory can help them set goals for their trip (&#;I want to shop here, then here, and end here&#;).

GPS has ruined us. In an age where nearly everyone has a that places them at the center of a map, and oriented to the direction the individual is traveling, is it any wonder people have a hard time finding themselves on a floorplan? Wayfinding design is crucial in any architecture plan.

As architects we should understand the end-user&#;s limitations and design to ease their navigation.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website Wayfinding System Design.