The Intrinsic Value of Quality Wayfinding.
Places & Spaces
Throughout history people have gravitated towards town squares, their local markets and other public places. This is traditionally where goods and wares are showcased and sold, food displayed, made and consumed and bargains sought and offered. This was and still is the underpinnings of commerce and public life. In the modern era of hyper markets, mega malls and e-commerce, people still make the pilgrimage to these types of public places, be they food halls, retail centers, green spaces with the kids, the local fair or fish market, Chinatown or a pop-up food festival.
The reason is that the fabric of human existence is woven together in settings where people go about their daily existence. Whilst the settings may have changed to some degree and have clearly become modernized, the need for people to gather and to be engaged and enjoy these experiences has not. If anything, as competition for time has increased, the need to gain the attention of and attract visitors to public places away from cyber spaces has increased – so too the requirement of providing visitors increasingly higher levels of convenience, comfort, service, and amenity.
As life and the spaces, we encounter become more complex, the need for cities, master developers and asset managers to understand how people get to these places and navigate them has become more important than ever to ensure visitors are provided convenience as well as memorable and positive user experiences.
You don’t need an intimate knowledge of the history and science of wayfinding to understand its critical importance in your life and in business. A well thought out wayfinding strategy and good navigation planning when combined with the appropriate visual cues (as well as quality signage) can get most people from Point A to Point B. However, without a carefully constructed wayfinding strategy and masterplan, signage alone can turn out to be inefficient, inconvenient, and potentially cause more problems than it seeks to solve.
Wayfinding Is Not Signage.
In short:
Signage without strategy isn’t wayfinding - it’s visual clutter that sends all the wrong signals.
Well planned architecture when combined with the use of thoughtful lighting, landscaping and other gestures provides a set of visual cues that go along way to defining the paths and entrances to and from destinations of interest. In the first instance this allows for intuitive navigation which is something at Creative Dialog we always advocate to our partners as the first step.
When combined with simple, effectively designed information that is delivered creatively and thoughtfully across a quality wayfinding program, we add another layer of assistance that plays a huge role in allowing people to focus on enjoying the reason that they set off on their journey in the first place, be it a cup of coffee with friends, a business meeting with a new client or an outing with the family.
It’s All About Experiences First, The Journey Second.
One of the greatest misnomers in the field of wayfinding is that wayfinding is just signage. Of course to the casual observer this may look like the case, however to the seasoned professional - signage is only a small element that goes into framing a successful wayfinding strategy. Signage Design, along with the information that is to be designed for the signage content is an art unto itself, and yes information and signage design are important elements of an overall approach to wayfinding, however they are far from being the complete solution.
In many ways, the best wayfinding signage sits humbly in the background, doing its job with little fanfare but sometimes it needs to stand out and be a part of the overall design context too. That’s because wayfinding is actually about understanding the human factors that go into how and why people navigate the spaces that they visit and can become a part of embellishing a site narrative or extending the brand expression of a well-crafted destination.
So, when a destination that’s being designed for human consumption is underway – it stands to reason that the navigational tools should be on brand and fit for purpose by integrating them at the earliest possible stage into the overall design of destination in the best way possible. To do this, a quality wayfinding consultant like Creative Dialog would begin to delve into things like Semiotics, Identity, Typography, Information & Graphic Design, Materiality and Form, along with taking into consideration Spatial Awareness and Cognitive Mapping of the visitor – all of which can be utilized to design some pretty terrific wayfinding & signage systems.
At the heart of successful wayfinding is the notion of putting the user experience first.
For instance, if the user experience is not a positive one, whether it is at a retail center, hospital, or airport then, the user is far less likely to return unless they really have to, this is especially the case in retail malls where visitor experience is paramount to successful repeat visitation. Users who feel the stress or anxiety of being lost, (while they may not understand the wayfinding was done poorly), still maintain those negative thoughts long after the visit has ended. This is bad for business, bad for public relations and bad for reputation when user experiences can be shared instantly across a variety of social media platforms, usually accompanied with a slew of derogatory hashtags. No asset manager want their destination to become a failure meme. By putting the user first, shrewd developers and asset managers are making a statement that they understand and care about their visitors’ needs and in practical terms they back this up by providing a quality led wayfinding system to guide their guests across the visitor journey.
For asset owners doing this can flow through to the bottom line, through increased dwell time and higher levels of customer satisfaction which in turn can deliver higher consumer spends and rental yields. Combining wayfinding, easily understandable information, vibrant environmental graphics, public art, placemaking and well-crafted signage systems allow for end users, residents and visitors alike to navigate and orientate themselves within the built environment in an intuitive, quicker, easier and ultimately more enjoyable way. This is the kind of outcome we are always looking to deliver for our partners.
Such environments can of course include transport systems, parking garages, commercial office spaces, residential buildings, and developments, along with a myriad of other places like retail malls, convention centers, airports, hospitals, company headquarters, college campuses as well as hospitality destinations such like hotels and resorts.
Bottom Line
It’s all about providing convenience. This is the intrinsic value that quality wayfinding adds to projects. It is part art and part science and should always aim to enrich lives by helping create and manage places for people to live, work, shop and play. At Creative Dialog with more than 25 years of industry experience across wayfinding, signage design, placemaking and destination branding we put people, strategy and expertise at the forefront of what we do, to ensure that the visitor is always the hero.
Like What You’re Reading?
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 organization.