Wayfinding Signage Design

This is Part 1 in a 4 part series titled What is Wayfinding? Check the blog next week for Part 2: The City as a Model.

What is Wayfinding? It’s a simple question that seems like it should yield a fairly simple explanation. And yet it is hardly so. Webster’s dictionary doesn’t list ‘wayfinding’ as a known term. As recently as 2015, the Oxford English Dictionary added “Wayfinding” to their word bank, defining it as, ‘The act of finding one’s way to a particular place; navigation.’  The Society for Experiential Graphic Design, or SEGD, says “Wayfinding refers to information systems that guide people through a physical environment and enhance their understanding and experience of the space.” Historically, this has been the space of signage and many people think of wayfinding and signage as synonymous. But in a broader context wayfinding should be considered in all the disciplines – architecture, interiors, landscape, lighting, and yes, signage and graphics. But the graphics, the sign system, the information systems, those are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, if the iceberg is built with wayfinding in mind, then the tip might be just barely visible above the waterline. In this four part series we will take a deep dive in search of the meaning of wayfinding – what it means today and what it may come to mean in the future.

Although the Wikipedia definition includes the orientation and navigation of all creatures, we’ll focus on how human beings use wayfinding in an attempt to define it more clearly. At heart, wayfinding is a system of elements working in concert to provide assistance. The goal of any wayfinding design system should be to aid the user in orienting themselves in a space and then in navigating to a specific destination. In Polynesian cultures, that meant navigating the open ocean by careful observation of the stars and planets. An article from National Geographic describes how, with these few consistent and organized cues from the environment, the Polynesians were able to successfully navigate thousand of miles of the Pacific Ocean long before the existence of GPS or even maps, for that matter. The celestial bodies and their relationship to Earth was decoded by these ancient wayfarers who then used their knowledge to navigate an unforgiving environment where getting lost carried with it the ultimate consequence. Theirs was a situation in which safety (and the ability to return to land) was paramount – the fundamental purpose of wayfinding was safety, which brought with it the confidence to venture out – to leave the island in search of something more.

Thousands of years later, the same basic human needs are still at play. Abraham Maslow is best known for his 1943 paper, “A Theory of Human Motivation,” where he establishes and outlines the five basic human needs. He organized the five principles into a pyramid with each layer relying on the presence of the layer below it. The base layer of Maslow’s pyramid is Physiological Needs – food, water, warmth, rest. With those established, humans can move to the next layer; Safety. These two first layers represent the basic human requirements. After that, Love and Belonging (intimate relationships and friends) and Esteem (prestige and feeling of accomplishment) constitute the Psychological layers of human need. The last portion of the pyramid is Self-Actualization where creative activities and the realization of one’s full potential can be realized. In design, this pyramid of need must be accounted for as these principles are driving forces connecting people to place. And when people feel connected to a place they feel fulfilled and are more likely to return.

At RSM Design, we’ve reinterpreted Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the context of the built environment – we call it Certainty, Variety and Delight. It’s a way to plan, design, and implement a host of features and elements in a project and the application of them satisfies all three layers of Maslow’s pyramid. Every day we rely on architecture, signs, landscape, landmarks, lighting, and a host of other cues from the built environment to assure us that, first and foremost, our basic human needs are being addressed. By feeling confident about the safety of our surroundings we’re able to relax – there’s a certainty to it that makes us feel comfortable. With Certainty, one can let their guard down, begin to decipher the layout of the environment, notice the landmarks, the signs and begin to understand the space. Many aspects of a project bring Certainty to the experience – architecture, lighting. Sign systems, often called wayfinding signage systems, provide a great deal of it. These systems identify uses and direct traffic. Maps, arrows and labels all provide Certainty. They decipher the environment for the observer.

Once Certainty covers the basic needs, Variety steps in to keep things interesting and begins to address the needs of Maslow’s Psychological layers. Variety may be used to establish the prestige or authenticity of an environment and can be expressed as shifts in color, pattern or texture which may denote zones or neighborhoods and serve to break the overall experience into smaller, more human-sized chunks. Features in the Variety classification can add color, visual interest, or meaning to the experience. When used hand in hand with Certainty, Variety also aids in the cognitive mapping of an environment – it’s another layer of memory. The third classification is Delight, which is just that; delightful experiences along the way – like a sculpture or a mural – which add to the overall wayfinding experience in more subtle ways. These points of interest can act as landmarks or come to symbolize a node. They usually inform the personality of the place and often bring with them culture, history, and education.

Maslow’s theory and our application of it to Certainty, Variety and Delight begin to define wayfinding from a viewpoint of need – effectively answering the question of ‘What is it?’ to ‘Why do we need it anyways?’

In the next chapter of the series we will look at the modern city as a model for organizing and engineering a wayfinding system.

This is Part 2 in a 4 part series called What is Wayfinding? You can read Part 1 here, and check the blog next week for Part 3: Wayfinding Is More Than Just Signage.

In the 1960s an educator and urban planner named Kevin Lynch first used the term “wayfinding” in his book “The Image of the City” where he describes the city in terms of its physical forms which he said can be “conveniently classified into five types of elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks.” In the context of wayfinding these elements control and facilitate all movement throughout the city for both people and vehicles. While this  model is organized around the context and features of a city, it can be applied to most built environments – for example a shopping mall also has paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks.

Paths, Lynch tells us, are “the channels along which the observer customarily, occasionally, or potentially moves. They may be streets, walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads.” These channels provide the framework for wayfinding as they directly facilitate movement. The success of the design of the paths in a given city heavily affects the overall wayfinding profile – Manhattan is an easy to decipher grid. One can easily infer the route necessary to get from 53rd Street to 61st Street. The design of the paths in London is not easily decipherable as the layout grew organically without an underlying principle and thus it has a more difficult wayfinding profile.

Edges act in many ways as the counterpoint to paths. The edges of a city are not confined to the perimeter according to Lynch, but instead “are the boundaries between two phases, linear breaks in continuity; shores, railroad cuts, edges of development, walls.” (Lynch p.47) Edges restrict movement rather than facilitate, but they find their purpose as organizing elements.

Lynch calls Districts “medium-to-large sections of the city, conceived of as having two-dimensional extent, which the observer mentally enters “inside of,” and which are recognizable as having some common, identifying character.” (Lynch p.47) Districts break the city down into smaller, more digestible pieces which aids the observer in gaining better understanding of both the relationship between the pieces and the details within each piece. Districts provide variety – one part of the city just feels different from the other parts and the transition from one part to the next provides clues to the observer that can then be used to navigate.

Nodes are essentially intersections or the hubs of a city. Paths lead to nodes and thus they are intrinsically linked to one another. But nodes can also be more than simply the overlap of paths – they can be the concentration of some use or physical character. Some of them, Lynch says can be “the focus and epitome of a district, over which their influence radiates and of which they stand as a symbol.” Times Square in Manhattan is a node of the city in which the use has come to define the district. A concentration of theaters created a very competitive environment in which marquees, signs, and now screens vie for the attention of the observer. There’s no sign defining the beginning or end of Times Square, but you know whether or not you’re in it.

Lynch’s  fifth type of element is Landmarks. Like districts, Landmarks are a point-reference, according to Lynch – “but in this case the observer does not enter within them, they are external.” They may be grand in scale (a mountain or a building) or smaller, like a park or a statue. These consistent clues provide the observer with a reference point from which direction or position may be established.

The Lynch model provides us with an excellent framework on which to build – and the concept can be applied to most types of environments. Airports, lifestyle centers, stadiums, and campuses alike each have their own paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. RSM Design uses the application of both the Lynch model and Certainty, Variety, and Delight to identify opportunities to intentionally foster and highlight not only the core wayfinding strategies but all layers of the experience through the use of color, pattern, texture, language, materiality, signage systems, murals, and sculpture. The clarification of paths, the definition of districts, and the introduction of landmarks are all potential contributions to the overall experience.

Wayfinding is everywhere in the built environment and acts at multiple scales at once. At the city level it exists in the design of the transit systems, signage, streets and sidewalks, to name a few. A large entertainment complex has its own ecosystem of wayfinding. Airports are notorious for their wayfinding. Everything from campuses to train stations to retail centers are each maintaining their own ecosystem while playing a role in the larger context of the district or city. At some point the scale shifts from the vehicular to the pedestrian level. Libraries get very specific about their wayfinding and supermarkets get somewhat deceptive about theirs. Layered experiences of wayfinding occur right up to your front door. Those experiences may be good and imageable, and thus useful for wayfinding design, or they may be poorly planned or executed and not useful at all.

In the next chapter of the series we will look at the all of the different components beyond physical signage that come together to communicate a cohesive wayfinding system.

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This is Part 3 in a 4 part series called What is Wayfinding? You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and check the blog next week for Part 4: What’s Next In Wayfinding?

If wayfinding is more than just signage, where else can we find it? Architecture, landscaping, lighting, art, and technology all play a significant role in a wayfinding system. As an example, let’s use a mixed-use project (retail plus residential) in an urban core. The project’s first wayfinding decision happens way upstream when a developer evaluates and selects the project site. The site’s proximity to transit, adjacent retail, parks and services begin to define its wayfinding profile. How easy is it to get to the site? How easy is is to get from the site to major transportation routes? Later, the architectural design team begins to add to the project’s wayfinding profile in siting the building(s). How will the architecture respond to the city around it? Will it close itself off from the street or open up to it? Because our example is a mixture of retail and residential components it will likely attempt to do both – to expose the retail while partially obfuscating the residential.

This split personality begins to drive wayfinding decisions – will the retail and residential parking be separated? Will they share a common entrance? How will motorists and pedestrians access the site? How will they exit the site? The design of the building and the relationship of the building relative to its surroundings establish the foundation for wayfinding – sometimes the site and building are so well designed to support intuitive navigation that very little else is needed. If the architecture is communicating Certainty then navigation though the space becomes intuitive. With too little Certainty the wayfinding is hampered and must be supported by signage. Too much Certainty and there’s no intrigue – no Variety or Delight. Of course, various project types will require appropriate amounts of Certainty. In our mixed-use project there’s a need to draw customers to the retail as well as to the residential leasing office, but there’s an equal amount of need for privacy for the residents. How can design in architecture, landscape, lighting, and signage work to meet these simultaneous needs?

Landscape and lighting elements play important roles in providing cues to the observer. They work effortlessly, both individually and in unison, to define paths, identify nodes, and give character to districts. The landscape design can literally show the way by channeling traffic and the presence (or absence) of light in an environment can communicate the message. Both landscape and lighting are excellent sources of Certainty, Variety, and Delight as they use color, shape, and texture to provide cues to the observer – they help translate the architecture in a non-verbal language spoken fluently by humans around the world.

The signage and graphics system is also a vital part of the wayfinding system. In many cases, signage is the lifeline of a wayfinding system. Buildings gesture, lighting and landscape enhance and direct, but in complex situations it is usually the signage people look to when uncertainty emerges. This dynamic likely adds to the misconception that the term wayfinding is referring explicitly to the signage in an environment. In fact, the more an environment is designed to facilitate wayfinding, the fewer number of signs are required. The signage system merely decodes the environment for the observer. If the environment decodes itself for the observer then the need for signs is decreased.

Signage can be broken down into four classifications: Directional, Informational, Identification, and Regulatory. Directional signs typically point the observer towards one or more destinations. If it has an arrow then it’s probably a directional sign. Informational signs work directly with Directional signs to communicate the bulk of wayfinding messages. Maps, diagrams, and indices are the heroes of the informational signs. When paired with the directional signs, they can answer the two most vital wayfinding questions: “Where am I in relation to my destination?” and “Which way do I go to reach my destination?” Occasionally, directional and informational signs are combined into a single unit, but they are also effective as individual distinct elements.

Identification signs label things: the range in scale and use of these is vast – a modest electrical closet sign is an identification sign but so is a set of twenty foot tall channel letters bolted to the side of a building. Identification signs are generally inviting. Or helpful at least. They say “here’s your destination – you’ve arrived!” Regulatory signs, however, are the lawmakers – “No Parking. No Exit. Don’t do that.” Regulatory signs do the least work in wayfinding. They add to the Certainty by establishing rules and order but do little else in showing the way.

In signage systems like Legible London, maps are used in both macro and micro scales to aid observers in locating themselves in and navigating through neighborhoods of twisting streets. The consolidation of information and the consistent and clear delivery of the information made Legible London the benchmark for wayfinding signage systems. Tim Fendley, the creative director of Legible London makes the point that Legible London had a special ingredient; “Most importantly, from a practical point of view, Legible London has something that the Islington maps do not, an index. It is what millions of visitors ask of the map immediately upon reading it – “Where is this street?” “Where is this landmark?” An index is a quick and easy method of decoding a map for those people.” Legible London presented beautifully designed signs and maps but it went further to help the observer understand the information. In doing so, they encouraged Londoners to walk more which not only eased the pressure on the transit system but additionally increased healthy habits and public safety (an increase to the number of people on the sidewalks deters crime).

One of Kevin Lynch’s five elements, Landmarks, is an often overlooked wayfinding system element. Not quite architecture, not really a sign, landmarks sometimes occur by design and other times by chance. Maybe some driving need of the architecture creates an abnormality that stands apart visually and by doing so is memorable. Or a piece of public art is placed in the project making that location special, and thus memorable. Lynch cites several characteristics of effective landmarks and notes, “Since the use of landmarks involves the singling out of one element from a host of possibilities, the key characteristic of this class is singularity, some aspect that unique or memorable in the context. Landmarks become more easily identifiable, more likely to be chosen as significant, if they have a clear form, if they contrast with the background, and if there is some prominence of spatial location.” Some landmarks, like a tower or a spire, can be seen from many vantage points making them especially useful in helping to orient the observer. The effect of Landmarks is powerful, especially to those repeat users of space. Lynch notes “There seemed to be a tendency for those more familiar with a city to rely increasingly on systems of landmarks for their guides – to enjoy uniqueness and specialization, in place of the continuities used earlier.” Navigation through the use of past experiences and visible landmarks becomes the fastest of wayfinding strategies as the observer no longer must stop or even slow down to read and understand messages on signs.

In the next and final chapter of the series we will look at the future of wayfinding design.

This is Part 4 in a 4 part series called What is Wayfinding? You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.

Although we are seeing great strides in the application of technology to wayfinding, it is clear today that there is much room for expansion and improvement in this field. The emergence of the smartphone and the Global Positioning System (GPS) have put powerful wayfinding tools into the hands of almost every person on the planet. Companies like Google have given us incredibly informative maps and images for use in navigation. In vehicular wayfinding, these tools are very competent; one can enter a destination in an app like WAZE and seconds later be given a choice of routes and an ETA. The technology updates in real time, making route and ETA adjustments on the fly. What was once a process of using a printed map, knowledge of past experiences and a series of educated guesses has been replaced by the Certainty brought on by technology. In the past, the most stressful part of vehicular wayfinding was the unknown: What time will I arrive? Will an issue arise causing a delay?

For the pedestrian, these type of tools are comparably slow to arrive. Virtual and augmented reality have teased with prototype examples of wayfinding information layered onto live images of the built environment. The observer is led, in real time, through a sequence of decision points along the path to a destination. Real working examples of this type of technology are difficult to find, however. The implementation of these systems presents project teams with major obstacles to overcome in both planning and cost. The foundation required for this type of system lies outside the boundaries of most real estate development projects. Software development is seldom budgeted for in the beginning stages of a project and the long term maintenance of these types of systems creates uncertainty in financial planning. Additionally, software designers are not likely to be part of the architectural project team which creates more uncertainty. But here too, Google is making an impact. Google Indoor maps presents the opportunity for owners to partner with Google in creating maps and diagrams for the indoor environment.

The Mall of America in Minnesota has done just that. With over 42 million annual visitors, the facility is Minnesota’s biggest tourist attraction. Forty percent of those visitors come from out of the area so navigating the 4.2 million square feet of retail, restaurants and attractions for the first time presents real wayfinding challenges. Lisa Grimm, MOA’s Digital Brand Manager says “We are interested in providing enhanced layers of usability for guests, and guest experiences are of primary importance. With the visitor numbers and square footage we have, there are several different problems we try to solve and address for our guests–and there are different fluency levels for them.” In this case, an existing facility is able to get over the technology gap through the partnership with Google which eliminates many of the uncertainties in both implementation and maintenance. For now, the use of the digital solution acts as a layer in addition to the traditional signage wayfinding system. As Grimm points out, today there are varying levels of fluency for this type of solution so both are required.

Will we see the traditional signage system fall away as the digital solution gains more traction – both in implementation and adoption? How, where and why will the next revolution in wayfinding take place? Three sectors seem likely to incubate the movement: Retail, Health Care, and Transportation. Retail brings the promise of sponsorship dollars which addresses the issue of cost in the development of digital solutions. The Health Care sector is undergoing rapid expansion as the baby boomers arrive in their golden years but will they, as a group, value the addition of digital wayfinding solutions? Will Transportation give us the next big leap in digital wayfinding? In the past, transportation has pushed boundaries of wayfinding but the pollination of government and digital solutions rarely yields optimal results. It seems highly likely that digital solutions for wayfinding will become more ubiquitous over time. The questions lie in how and when.

Wayfinding is a critical part of our everyday modern experience. In built environments, layers of wayfinding systems occur simultaneously – sometimes overlapping and at other times leaving big frustrating gaps. And while many people use the terms wayfinding and signage interchangeably, wayfinding systems are actually aggregates of architecture, lighting, landscape, art, and yes, signage systems. The consistent cues identified by Lynch as the lifeblood of wayfinding can be planned and designed into many aspects of the environment and environments that rely on signage alone for wayfinding are bypassing many of the most effective wayfinding tools available.

The environments in which we find ourselves are communicating on many levels. As wayfinders we’ve learned to filter the cues from the environment; to listen to the architecture, the landscape, the lighting and the sign systems. We’ve learned to see the relationships between these elements and to understand their cumulative message. As wayfinding design evolves further and becomes more intentionally woven into the environment, we may actually begin to see traditional wayfinding cues – the signage system – become less significant as other features begin to take on more responsibility.