5 Tips For Creating Effective Wayfinding Signs
Signage For Your Business
Wayfinding signs are essential in guiding people internally or externally throughout your business or encourage a flow of movement to a place of interest in a particular direction.
If you have large premises with a complicated layout or simply have visitors who don’t know their way around, wayfinding signs are the solution that helps people get to where they need to be without getting lost.
1. Easy to Understand
Wayfinding signage is designed to ensure that everybody can get to where they need to be. Design your signage for those who have never been to your premises before. To do this, you need to think like a visitor. What things would they be looking for? Where would they want to go? How would they try to navigate through the building?
2. Branding
Your signage needs to be recognised as such and should, therefore, all have the same design. This means using the same colours, shapes, fonts and symbols consistently so that people can spot them easily and know immediately that they are wayfinding signs.
3. Placement
One of the key aspects of an effective wayfinding system is putting the signs in the right places. Generally, we are very good at finding things if we are travelling in a straight line: it is when that straight line deviates that we expect to find a sign to help us on the next part of the journey. This usually means putting a sign at a place where we need to decide about which direction to go and, in most cases, these are at entrances, exits, staircases, lifts, crossroads and larger spaces where there are multiple exits each leading to different places.
4. Display Useful Information
Keeping information limited to what is necessary is important when considering wayfinding signage. This means labelling the destination, pointing the direction and, if required, showing the distance or travelling time. Always aim to use the minimum number of words and where possible, e.g., for toilets, use universally understood symbols.
5. Consistency
Wayfinding signs need to be recognised as such and should, therefore, all have the same design. This means using the same colours, shapes, fonts and symbols consistently so that people can spot them easily and know immediately that they are wayfinding signs.
Your Local Signage Specialists
At Future Signs, we have been designing, producing and installing high-quality signage across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire for more than two decades. Whether you're looking for interior or exterior signage, we have the knowledge and experience to fulfil the needs of your business.