Complete Guide to Wayfinding

23 Dec.,2024

 

Complete Guide to Wayfinding

Wayfinding signage is all around us &#; and often a resource you may not realise is so prevalent! Whether you&#;re visiting a business, walking the dogs around the park, attending a doctor&#;s appointment or dropping a child at school, you&#;ll use wayfinding to help navigate, work out where to park and follow pathways.

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This illustrates the key objective of high-quality wayfinding signage. It improves visitor experiences, ensures customers always know where to access support, and provides seamless, stress-free navigation around compounds, complexes, events, buildings and spaces, indoors and out.

Imagery, colours, logos and design attributes used in wayfinding signage contribute to a professional or welcoming appearance and can set the tone for the way visitors and site users interact with your space &#; whether a fun, upbeat artistic design or signage created in a heritage style in sympathy with a historic site.

The Importance of Wayfinding Signage

Wayfinding covers a broad scope of signage models and placements and should solve any potential question somebody attending your facility or space for the first time may need to ask. For instance, a wayfinding sign is doing exactly what it should if it helps visitors understand:

  • Where they are and where that is in relation to the place they are trying to find.
  • How to navigate through your site to their intended destination.
  • Where to get help, ask a question or register their attendance.
  • How to find a specific point, such as an exit route, reception desk or meeting room.

Great wayfinding promotes a feeling of relaxation and good service, without any concerns that visitors will find your building or property difficult to navigate or that signage and directions are only accessible to the workforce or regular visitors.

Businesses, event managers, outdoor attractions and tourist centres use wayfinding to assist with orientation, helping guests pick and choose the right route &#; such as a path that is wheelchair accessible &#; check whether they are on the correct course to their destination, and know what that destination will look like when they arrive.


What Are the Advantages of Wayfinding Signage?

Wayfinding signage means that your visitors are confident of their location and can navigate to their intended spot with the convenience of following signage without needing to request assistance. Wayfinding can be a safety asset, particularly in sites with complex layouts or routes that may be unsuitable for some visitors (think small children, buggies and those with limited mobility).

We&#;ll look in more detail at design principles and attributes you may wish to include in your wayfinding. However, adding symbols and icons to designate routes with stairs, steep hills or uneven surfaces can be invaluable to some visitor demographics and make their experience far more comfortable.

Other positive outcomes of installing wayfinding signage include:

  • Time efficiencies &#; if attendees visit your site with pre-booked tickets, appointments or slots, it may be imperative that site navigation is quick and easy.
  • Professional branding &#; using your logos, brand colours, and designs creates a uniform, cohesive space that can strengthen your brand or company perceptions.
  • Pedestrian safety &#; wayfinding can be used in parking areas, through routes and delivery bays, ensuring vehicles know which routes to follow and do not enter pedestrian-only zones.

Some wayfinding signs may be mandatory to comply with health and safety regulations or sector-specific requirements. Wayfinding can be used to highlight emergency exits, evacuation routes and fire alarm call points, alongside first aid stations and phones to call for assistance.


What Are the Various Types of Wayfinding Signage?

Most sites tend to combine several wayfinding signage systems and boards, incorporating fingerposts with arrows pointing to the labelled areas, ladder wayfinding with stacked signs for different buildings or places within a campus, and large-scale directional signs designating entrances or main visitor access routes.

Wayfinding Signs for Identification

Identifier signs tell the viewer where they are, often with an adjacent map or display so that they can navigate their route. Identification signs include landmark signs such as icons, plaques and departmental signage.


Directional Wayfinding Signs

Directional signs show the right way to find a point of interest and can be configured at junctions, such as turning left for the exit, right for customer support and heading straight for car parking. Directional wayfinding can also be designed as a directory of departments or units in a site or with colour-coded icons.


Informative Wayfinding Signage

Information signs might indicate your opening hours, conditions of entry, access permissions, pedestrian-only areas, the facilities available or practicalities such as how to summon a lift, open a disability access door, or log into the Wi-Fi.


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Wayfinding Signs for Regulatory Compliance

As we mentioned briefly, some signage is mandatory and might relate to safety considerations such as high voltage lines, steep drops or deep water. Others are necessary to comply with accessibility legislation or are there to encourage conformity with site rules, such as no smoking or no litter dropping.

Compliance signage can be incorporated into wayfinding to ensure you have one visitor touch point covering safety, navigation and important information. Bridleways and parklands are good examples &#; one signage panel might direct users to the correct path while advising that vehicles are prohibited or must comply with a maximum speed.


Interactive Wayfinding Signage

While signage panels are often thought of as static assets, they can enhance visitor experiences and user satisfaction by encouraging interactivity. Using QR codes, for instance, could prompt visitors to download an app for an attraction, help them purchase an entry ticket, or provide information about paying for parking through your designated payment app.

Interactive wayfinding can add value to the enjoyment of your facility when coordinated with treasure and adventure trails, education about the history of your site, or help to find out more about the species and flora and fauna within a park, conservation area or lakeside region.


Where Is Wayfinding Signage Most Often Used?

In short, anywhere you might visit that is not easy and intuitive to navigate can benefit from wayfinding signage for the multiple benefits explored. Among the clients, companies, public sector bodies and organisations we work with, partners include:

  • Commercial spaces &#; office buildings, hotels, apartment blocks, business compounds, car parks, and shopping centres.
  • Public facilities &#; healthcare centres, hospitals, clinics and GP practices.
  • Transport hubs &#; airports, bus stations, train stations and business or residential routes.
  • Educational facilities &#; schools, university campuses, residential schools, colleges, nurseries and other learning environments.
  • Tourist attractions &#; visitor centres, amusement parks, beachfronts, historical sites, museums, castles and aquariums.
  • Outdoor spaces &#; sports stadiums, parks, nature reserves, walking paths, cycling routes, bridleways, reservoirs, seafronts and lake lands.


If your interested in finding out more about how we can help you with your wayfinding then please contact us at where we can discuss your project.



The Beginner's Guide to Choosing Wayfinding Signs | Forsite

The Beginner's Guide to Choosing Wayfinding Signs

From residential communities and historic city districts to commercial shopping centers, parks, hospital, schools and more, wayfinding signs are used in a variety of areas. The primary purpose of wayfinding signs is to assist visitors in navigating the area where they are used. A local park, for example, may feature wayfinding signs directing visitors to the picnic tables, restrooms and walking trials, while a commercial shopping center may feature wayfinding signs for the various businesses and their respective address number. But if you're planning to buy wayfinding signs for your community or development project, you'll need to choose the right ones to ensure that visitors can easily navigate it.

Similar Design as Street Signs

It's recommended that you choose wayfinding signs with the same or similar design as the area's street signs. If the area's street signs feature a modern black-and-white color scheme, using black-and-white wayfinding signs will create a more cohesive, consistent landscape. On the other hand, if the area's street signs feature a green-and-gold color scheme, you should use a similar green-and-gold design for the wayfinding signs.

Uppercase and Lowercase Letters

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) published by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) now requires the use of both uppercase and lowercase letters on all street signs. While this doesn't necessarily cover wayfinding signs -- unless the signs are used on roads -- it's still a good idea to choose wayfinding signs with a similar format. Studies have shown that signs featuring a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters are easier to read than those featuring all uppercase letters. You may want to use all uppercase letters for titles, but using uppercase and lowercase letters for smaller details about the area will help visitors navigate the area more easily.

Arrows for Navigation

Arrows are an invaluable design element for wayfinding signs. Their simple design shows visitors the exact direction in which a specific point of interest is located. With that said, not all wayfinding signs need arrows. In a shopping center with dozens of businesses, including an arrow on a wayfinding sign for each business isn't practical. For most other areas, however, arrows improve the overall value of wayfinding signs.

The Right Size

Wayfinding signs are available in a wide range of sizes, but you'll need to choose a suitable size for the area in which you intend to use it. There's no single "best" size to use for wayfinding signs. Rather, you choose wayfinding signs in an appropriate size relative to other nearby signs. In other words, don't choose wayfinding signs that are disproportionately smaller or larger than the surrounding street signs.

 

About Forsite:

Welcome to Forsite! You&#;ve found your best source custom street signs and community wayfinding signs. We manufacture and install upscale site amenities throughout the United States.

Forsite can provide all of your signage needs for your Master Planned Community or  Residential Development. We help our customers to create a uniform, upscale appearance and increase property values by "bundling" themed packages of decorative street signage, mailboxes, post and wall mounted lighting, and wayfinding signage

You can count on the experts at Forsite to help improve the quality of your community today. Contact us today to get started by talking to one of our experienced team members at 855-537-.

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