A Guide to Wayfinding Design

A Guide to Wayfinding Design

What is Wayfinding?

Wayfinding is the way people orient themselves and find their way throughout different physical spaces. Think about a time that you found yourself in an unfamiliar building, yet you were easily able to navigate from point A to point B. While you probably didn’t notice or think about this too much, there were likely many different players involved in creating this wayfinding scheme so that you didn’t have to!

Wayfinding design is more than how the signs look. It’s how they work together to provide an effective and efficient wayfinding solution.

Steps to Design Success:

1. Research

To create the best wayfinding solution, a bit of initial research is required to understand the buildings users, how they behave and what they are looking to achieve. People react differently in different environments, whether it is a school, a hospital, or an airport. Emotions can play a large part in people’s ability to navigate effectively so it’s important to understand the overall mood of the environment.

2. Walk the Path

A good way to measure the effectiveness of your wayfinding solution is to walk in other people’s shoes, not literally (although, we wouldn’t judge). By walking the path that building users will walk, you can gain a clearer understanding of the problems they could encounter.

3. Show Your Brand Personality

Is your brand modern or traditional? Do you want to have a playful or professional voice? These are all things that can be considered in your wayfinding scheme. Wayfinding is a huge part of communicating who you are to your clients: what do you want it to say about you?

Wayfinding Design Infographic

The New Age of Wayfinding:

Wayfinding is evolving into less of a directional signage solution and more into an outlet for brands to express creativity and artistic design. With this change, brands are better able to communicate their message consistently and users can get a better understanding of who they are from the first step through the door.

Wayfinding Design

Looking for a new wayfinding solution?

Wayfinders has over 40 years experience in signage and wayfinding design! Are you looking for an effective plan that also looks really nice and reflects your brand? Then, you’ve come to the right place.

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