Wayfinding
means knowing where you are, knowing your destination, following the best route,
recognizing your destination, and finding your way back out. When people cannot do
any or all of these things, outside or inside complex facilities, we say they are disoriented.
Since
disorientation has significant negative consequences, both for individuals and for the
organizations that serve them, wayfinding ease benefits everyone. Disorientation is a
significant cause of stress in modern life. Known human navigation principles make
it an unnecessary stress, yet it is common.
Consider the
frustration of the usually competent corporate executive, running late as he searches for
a meeting room among a warren of offices in an unfamiliar office building. Or
consider the feelings of an elderly patient who takes pride in her punctuality, already
ten minutes late, as she eases her walker down one corridor after another in a mazelike
hospital, trying to find the Imaging Department for the first time. Hearts pound,
sweat beads, worries form --- all as a result of these visitors not being able to find
their way.
In addition
to physical and psychological impacts, the stress of disorientation can have other
consequences. In health care facilities, when ambulance drivers or seriously ill
patients can't quickly find emergency rooms, or when a code blue team cannot locate an
arresting visitor in a parking structure, life and death issues are at stake.
In other types of
facilities, like airports or office buildings, opportunities (and the resulting effects on
reputation, income and time) may be lost, as a result of meetings, travel connections, or
presentations missed due to disorientation.
Wayfinding
confusion can also keep people from important experiences. In shopping malls,
museums, or convention centers, disorientation may keep visitors from visiting desired
destinations, or knowing other areas even exist.
At a time
when many organizations pride themselves on their consumer-driven visions and
user-friendliness, wayfinding ease is something that can add to the images of
well-designed and well-managed facilities.
Sign Edge
approaches wayfinding differently from most graphics firms. We see wayfinding as much more
than signs, and plan wayfinding systems to solve the complex problems of disorientation.
Our work is comprehensive, analytical, and function-oriented.
We are knowledgeable about the appropriate role of design, and we give personal attention
to clients' wayfinding requirements.
