INSIGHTS
WHY FAST TRACKING WAYFINDING PROJECTS OFTEN LEADS TO PROJECT FAILURE (AND WHAT TO DO INSTEAD)
THE FAST TRACK PARADOX IN MIDDLE EAST DEVELOPMENT
For anyone involved in the Middle East’s real estate and destination development business, the allure to stakeholders of fast tracking a project is undeniable. The region has become renowned for its construction miracles, transforming visionary concepts into physical reality at speeds that have astounded the global development community.
Yet after 15 years of guiding wayfinding strategies across landmark projects throughout the region, we have observed a consistent pattern: when it comes to wayfinding and visitor experience design, attempts at project fast tracking often produces precisely the opposite of its intended outcome.
Time and again we have seen companies taking the top down, ‘just get it done’ approach and rather than accelerating project completion, these rushed wayfinding initiatives frequently lead to costly rework, implementation delays, compromised visitor experiences, and ultimately – brand damage to the very destinations that the wayfinding was meant to enhance. Having been caught numerous times at the centre of this paradox of trying to speed things up actually slows things down, we think this unhealthy practice deserves thoughtful examination, particularly for stakeholders at any level of decision making that are responsible for project success.
UNDERSTANDING WAYFINDING’S UNIQUE POSITION IN THE DEVELOPMENT SEQUENCE
Wayfinding as a discipline occupies a distinctive place within the development ecosystem. Unlike some design disciplines that can proceed independently in early phases, effective wayfinding is inherently responsive and contextual. It requires integration with multiple project elements including architecture, interior design, and landscape that must be reasonably finalized before wayfinding can fulfil its purpose and full potential as a visitor experience tool.
Consider the fundamental challenges that arise when wayfinding is fast tracked prematurely. Architectural layouts and interior configurations serve as the fundamental canvas for a successful wayfinding strategy. When these continue to evolve – as they inevitably do in the early and middle phases of design development – wayfinding teams must repeatedly adapt to moving targets. This continuous rework consumes valuable resources at the consultant’s expense without materially advancing the project forward.
Effective signage also requires precise messaging, but when zone designations, venue names, or facility functions remain in flux, the wayfinding team either produces content that will soon become obsolete or must delay completion until these decisions are finalized. Similarly, wayfinding elements must respond sensitively to their surroundings. When interior finishes, materials, lighting conditions, and public realm elements remain undefined, wayfinding designers cannot ensure their solutions will integrate harmoniously with the final environment.
Fast tracking essentially asks wayfinding practitioners to solve an equation while the variables are still changing – a virtually impossible task that inevitably leads to suboptimal outcomes and ultimately navigational failure if the system was to be implemented in a premature state of completion – and outcome we have seen take place on numerous occasions.
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF RUSHING WAYFINDING IMPLEMENTATION
Perhaps the most persistent misconception about fast tracking a wayfinding program is that it is going to somehow save money. Our experience across hundreds of projects tells a completely different story.
Let’s say that the program is moving towards implementation, yet the final messaging is still not confirmed. Well, if the client pulls the trigger on fabrication and the signage is manufactured before messaging is finalized and implemented anyway just to ‘get the job done’, entire sign families will need replaced or even completely redesigned. And this actually does happen. We’ve witnessed cases where newly installed directional systems were immediately rendered useless by late-stage programming changes – a highly abortive and costly scenario that could have been avoided with a more measured approach.
Beyond financial implications, incomplete or incorrect wayfinding creates visitor frustration, confusion, and negative first impressions that can permanently damage a destination’s reputation. Visitors do not know or care about the reasons why they are lost or inconvenienced; all they know is that they are enduring a highly negative visitor experience in a brand-new destination. The cost of recovering from this perception deficit often exceeds any perceived timeline advantages gained through attempted project fast tracking in the first place and it’s time that project leaders, either from the client, lead design teams or project management side took note of the quite significant damage this causes.
Another aspect is the immense pressure of unrealistic deadlines. Continual, frenzied phone calls at all hours seeking action and answers as the client or their representatives hysterically chase, and push and chase to meet impossible deadlines puts everyone involved under enormous stress and this frequently damages the collaborative dynamics between client teams and consultants. This erosion of trust makes problem-solving more difficult and can compromise outcomes across multiple project dimensions. This is particularly damaging to relationships across the project group and is one of the most insidious aspects of project fast tracking where reputations can be left in tatters and team members from both sides upset and burnt out.
A particularly illuminating example comes from an extremely high-profile mixed-use development in the region that we recently engaged on. The initial approach involved fast tracking wayfinding implementation to align with an aggressive opening timeline. The site-wide signage and wayfinding program was designed and fabricated based on preliminary space planning, only to require complete replacement when retail tenants, final venue and restaurant names, and circulation patterns evolved due to architectural and vertical movement changes.
The project ultimately opened many months behind schedule, with the wayfinding program requiring a complete redesign six months later at significant additional cost to the client group. This was coupled with the deployment of significantly higher on-ground human resources to provide in-person navigation assistance due to the current wayfinding being fundamentally misleading which provided to be a source ongoing visitor complaint. Amongst near constant visitor complaints about getting lost – the ownership group was left with no choice but to make wholesale change, but the reputational damage incurred during the critical launch period was immense and has since required additional marketing expenditure to overcome negative perceptions.
When Creative Dialog was engaged to resolve these issues, we implemented our strategic sequencing approach and ensured that the client team understood where things had gone wrong. Despite working to quite a compressed timeline, we prioritized aligning wayfinding development with finalized architectural and programming decisions, ensuring that a logical process was followed from strategy through to implementation. After this reboot, the result was a cohesive system delivered within a reasonable timeline and within budget that effectively supported the visitor experience in a much more positive manner. The true value in managing a wayfinding program comes not from compression but from orchestration – ensuring that each phase happens at the optimal moment in relation to other project elements and disciplines and this is a world away from opting for the lowest cost bid and rushing the job just to get it done.
FINDING THE BALANCED PATH FORWARD
We recognize that development timelines in the Middle East will continue to be ambitious – this spirit of accomplishing the seemingly impossible is part of what makes the region so dynamic and exciting. The question is not whether to embrace ambitious goals, but how to achieve them without compromising the visitor experience or that of the partnerships that try to create them, that ultimately determines a project’s future success. The temptation for short-term wins sometimes needs to take a back seat to long term viability.
Our recommendation is not to abandon urgency, but to channel it productively. Early engagement brings wayfinding expertise into the project at inception, not as an afterthought, allowing for strategic planning and deployment that is measured and anticipates dependencies and minimizes redundancies. Realistic sequencing acknowledges the iterative nature of wayfinding and builds appropriate sequence points into the master program rather than forcing artificial overlaps based on arbitrary deadlines.
When accelerated delivery is non-negotiable, intelligent phasing strategies can prioritize core wayfinding elements while building in future proofing flexibility for evolving aspects of the system. Quality wayfinding requires specialized knowledge, and selecting partners based primarily on speed or cost is also highly counterproductive. Which is why we firmly believe that client procurement teams need to better understand the value that quality practitioners bring to the discipline.
In all of this, we have consistently found two types of project scenario; the pragmatic team that approaches timeline challenges as opportunities for creative solutions with an eye on the big picture and the other where senior management has mandated that the work be done now, overriding best practices and industry standards. We know which approach consistently yields better outcomes and saves money.
THE BOTTOM LINE
At Creative Dialog, our many years of regional experience across every aspect of the industry has taught us that the most efficient path to project completion is rarely the most direct one. By understanding the unique requirements of wayfinding and the clients’ ultimate needs and pressure points both internal and external we can strategically approach the development in a way that honours both timeline imperatives, client needs and visitor experience quality.
We achieve this through genuine dialogue and collaboration and by taking our experienced based “measure twice, cut once” approach which has proven itself repeatedly across a wide variety of project circumstances. This small investment in strategic patience almost invariably yields substantial returns in implementation efficiency, cost management, and ultimately, allows us to follow a process that delivers better outcomes for our partners and higher rates of visitor satisfaction for their guests and end users.
These articles are a small part of our research and strategic advisory services. Get in touch with Creative Dialog today to see how we can distill these insights into actionable strategies and solutions to improve the visitor experience across your destination.
