Creative Dialog re-imagined the wayfinding strategy for one of Dubai's most architecturally significant new urban destinations.

Working across the seven-star, multi-layered environment that houses One&Only One Za'abeel, SIRO One Za'abeel and a marquee F&B portfolio, the team plugged the gaps in the legacy scheme and delivered a navigation system worthy of the building's monumental ambition.

Expertise: Wayfinding Strategy, Signage Design + Implementation
Sectors: Mixed-Use, Hospitality, Residential
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Objective

One Za'abeel is unique, sophisticated and confident — a seven-star destination consisting of one of the city's most vaunted luxury urban hotels, One&Only, alongside the wellness-led SIRO Hotel. The destination also houses some of Dubai's most talked-about culinary plays, including Street XO and The Link.

When ICD approached Creative Dialog to undertake a detailed wayfinding and visitor experience programme for this urban monument, the brief was clear: get at the core of the problems found within the legacy scheme, re-imagine the guest experience, and put forward a solid navigation strategy worthy of the destination's architectural ambition and the calibre of the hospitality brands inside it.

Our Approach

Creative Dialog approached the brief as both a diagnostic exercise and a strategic re-imagining — picking up where the past wayfinding had failed and rebuilding from the ground up. The goal was a navigation system that worked at every scale, from monumental exterior through complex interior to individual guest touchpoint.

_We undertook a full diagnostic of the legacy scheme to identify the gaps and the failure points in the existing wayfinding.

_We plugged the gaps in the exterior signage to provide prominent, legible and intuitive wayfinding around the entire perimeter, facilitating visitor arrival and pointing to key destination arrival points for guests of all types.

_We re-imagined the interiors, including reconfiguring the lifts and how they operated, and implementing a site-wide digital lift call button programme.

_We delivered clear lift level numbering and bespoke directories and maps that provide immediate level information to aid orientation and journey planning across the multi-layered building.

_We adopted a sleek and minimalist interior design language built around a distinct graphic-based wayfinding and information design system — centred on large arrows and the use of respective F&B logos, all contained in a slender and stylish frame.

_We extended the system to the exterior with a suite of sign types that speak to the monumental and cantilevered nature of the building envelope — large, offset sign panels stacked upon each other to deliver strong navigational cues in what is an extremely busy road environment.

The Outcome

The completed programme delivers a wayfinding system that finally matches the ambition of the building it serves — monumental in exterior scale, sleek and graphic-led in interior application, and consistent across the full guest journey from highway approach through to suite arrival. A navigation strategy that lives up to a seven-star architectural statement.

What We Delivered

Wayfinding Strategy & Visitor Experience Programme

Legacy Scheme Diagnostic & Gap Analysis

Exterior Signage Family (Cantilevered, Stacked, Building-Scale)

Interior Signage Family (Graphic-Led, Slender Frame System)

Digital Lift Call Button Programme

Lift Level Numbering & Bespoke Directories

Custom Mapping & Orientation Tools

Technical Documentation & Implementation Support