Wayfinding what is it and how do we achieve it?

 
As part of my PhD research (it seems so long ago but it wasn’t really!), I undertook a narrative review to look at the literature to see which minor refurbishment elements appeared - and how frequently.  Wayfinding was the fourth most common element, surfacing in 65% of the publications that were included in the study1. But just what is wayfinding? Simply put, wayfinding considers all the ways in which people physically orient themselves in an environment and navigate from place to place.  It uses these information systems to enhance people’s understanding and experience of the space2. There are many principles to guide wayfinding and accurate interpretation relies on expertise and sound understanding of the environment in addition to the types of people using those environments (and their abilities). Meanwhile, a simple set of points from MX Display in the UK3 help to understand the purpose of wayfinding:

1.       Creating an identity at each location

2.       Use landmarks to provide orientation cues

3.       Create well-structured paths

4.       Create regions of differing visual character

5.       Don’t give the person too many navigational choices

Mishler and Neider (2017)4 highlighted the difficulties that older adults may have with navigating their environments, particularly due to challenges with focusing their visual attention. They developed principles for signage (one of the elements of wayfinding) to include distinctiveness, consistency, location, images and simplicity. When you add the need to consider font type, size, colour, proportion to image, meaning to words/icons used, perceptual components just to name a few, it reiterates the intricacies of signage which is often misunderstood.  Signage is just one element of wayfinding – there are many more!

de Fiddes drew on their in-house design, clinical and specialist accessorising domains to provide effective wayfinding solutions in their projects and due to the popularity, have now reached the stage where wayfinding is offered as a specific service. There are many subtleties that promote wayfinding and our knowledge and expertise, particularly in supporting people living with cognitive impairment or with dementia, puts us in good stead to assist you with any wayfinding challenges you may experience. Call or email any member of the team to find out more. 

 

References

1.       Neylon, S., Bulsara, C., & Hill, A-M. (2019).  Improving Australian residential aged care facilities: A review of minor refurbishment elements, Journal of Housing For the Elderly, 33:3, 227-243, DOI: 10.1080/02763893.2018.1561591

2.       https://segd.org/what-wayfinding

3.       https://mxdisplay.co.uk/five-core-wayfinding-principles/

4.       Mishler, A.D. & Neider, M.B. (2017). Improving wayfinding for older users with selective attention deficits. Ergonomics in Design, 25(1),11-16. doi:10.1177/1064804616659992

 

 
KnowledgeAmy Bosnar