Wayfinding is not signage
How many times have you been asked to do wayfinding when the client starts off discussing signage? I’ve often thought why is this the case, and why it is important that they don’t get confused.
Urban Designers have their basis of wayfinding education through Kevin Lynch’s Image of the City (1960), where he defined wayfinding as; ‘a consistent use and organization of definite sensory cues from the external environment’ not one mention of signs! This brought about the seminal ‘Lynch Analysis’ of how to understand a city through identifying paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks. With these cues you should be able to successfully read and navigate places.
Kevin Lynch's seminal book for urban designers introduced wayfinding through 5 cues in seeking legibility in a city
Great for large scale cities but how does one deal with more intermit and complex environments? In 1992, Arthur and Passini published Wayfinding: People, Signs and Architecture; this became a must have book in any architectural consulting firm, especially in the interior design departments. It was a built environmental experience approach using the power of graphics and architecture to control behavioural actions in the process of moving people.
Arthur & Passion's focus on behavioural actions through graphic communication added further expereinces in wayfinding
This is where I believe the misalignment of thinking began. Lynch deals heavily on the place connections and its legibility, while the latter book focuses more on the graphic communication processes. But does it really matter? Yes, especially if you are referring to placemaking and wayfinding.
In placemaking, wayfinding is more than connecting A to B, it encompasses all urban behaviours, from orientation to identification to exploration to discovery. Its benefits are wide reaching for visitors, residents and businesses covering public health, economy and the street environment.
Wayfinding is more than signs—it includes names, maps, new media, and elements of the public realm such as lighting, landscape, street furniture, public art and of course architecture. Building upon Lynch’s five cues, a way finding system should enable people to orient themselves in physical space and navigate from place to place, without the obvious graphical interventions.
Place wayfinding relates to the built and the natural environment that makes streets, neighbourhoods, and the place more “legible”, helping people to find their way. In turn a ‘legible’ place will enable economic, social and cultural exchange of people, thus supporting a number of business and development strategies used in creating vibrant and healthy places.
Key issues that impact the wayfinding experience;
Identify and Connect Places
First and foremost is establish an identity of place, its relationship to its community and beyond, secondly is to ensure that how are these ‘places’ connected by foot, cycling, or car, and or other nonphysical systems, understanding that each ‘place’ provides a different function, either residential, mixed-use, recreation, etc. but must feel connected as part of a single identity.
Reduce reliance on the car and building confidence and trust to walk
Reducing reliance on a single mode of transportation not only encourages better use of networks but also gives people the opportunity to react to disruptions and re-plan the journey.
Additionally, streets, parks and neighbourhoods that are accessible, secure, vibrant and enjoyable, encourage people to walk more often. Identify and resolve how people (visitor and resident) can navigate around the many places without requiring a car – why would you walk instead of drive?
Stimulate economic growth
More people walking on the streets make neighbourhoods safer, more vibrant and attractive which equates to more local businesses.
Therefore, your approach should identify and resolve how retail areas are easily accessed, how to address the impediments for walkable streets within the development to increase the presence of eyes on the street – encouraging a safer neighbourhood.
Encourage exploration, wandering & discovery
It’s not only visitors who benefit from wayfinding. Residents should be provided with tools to discover their place / neighbourhood and ‘get lost’ in the knowledge that they will find their way back.
Physical and psychological barriers and a frequent overestimation of walk distances/times are sometimes used as excuses or main deterrents for walking, identify and resolve these barriers to encourage walkability.
8 Key Wayfinding Principles for Placemaking
Places are different to spaces, and therefore should derive its approach more to the Lynch theoretical approach as well as adopting behavioural elements, and in this case, the following 8 principles should be your starting point in analysing if you have addressed a thorough and successful wayfinding strategy to support placemaking.
Create identity at each location / node, that is different from all others.
Use landmarks (building or other) to provide orientation cues and memorable locations.
Create well-structured legible path networks.
Provide distinctive visual character for each district.
Minimize the choices in critical navigation.
Use surveyed views (give navigators a vista or map).
Provide graphic communication at decision points to help wayfinding decisions, only when absolutely necessary.
Use sight lines to show what's ahead.
So the next time wayfinding and signage are used interchangeably, you can now navigate your clients and stakeholders on a better path, to a place beyond signs!