Straight Forward

A guest contribution by Patrick Eley and Alan Stevenson. No part of the place creation process happens in isolation and wayfinding, an extremely collaborative practice, is no different. To understand what goes into a typical wayfinding project, it helps to understand the many people involved in its success. In the final chapter of Straight Forward we…

A guest contribution by Patrick Eley and Alan Stevenson. The smartphone in your pocket or the Sat Nav in your car has replaced the need to unfold those enormous paper sheets of yore. Digital maps have made our world feel smaller and infinitely easier to explore. And yet, they’re far from perfect! For its one…

A guest contribution by Patrick Eley and Alan Stevenson. One of the most common side effects of working in wayfinding is being really, really into maps! One of the key challenges of reading a map, especially if you come from a generation that remembers being reliant on paper maps — is how to look at…

A guest contribution by Patrick Eley and Alan Stevenson. What’s the point of a wayfinding system if not everyone can use it? People need to do more than just read a sign, they need to understand it – instantly. An accessible wayfinding system accommodates the reality that everyone has different ways of taking in information and…

A guest contribution by Patrick Eley and Alan Stevenson. Good wayfinding systems shouldn’t come with an expiration date. Instead, they should be resilient to the test of time, adapting and readapting to withstand anything from the elements to wear and tear to changes in the building’s layout or visitor needs. A wayfinding system does this…

A guest contribution by Patrick Eley and Alan Stevenson. The deeper you get into the art of wayfinding, the more hats you need to wear. You need to be adept at understanding graphic design, industrial design, engineering, behavioural science, and architecture. You also need a good dose of common sense! So in the face of…

A guest contribution by Patrick Eley and Alan Stevenson. When you’re devising a wayfinding scheme, it’s the strategic framework upfront that plays the most crucial role of all: putting the right sign in the right place. After all, locating signs isn’t as simple as plotting them, installing them and assuming they’ll do their job. To…

A guest contribution by Patrick Eley and Alan Stevenson. Compared to the Arctic Tern, a migratory bird that flies from the Arctic to the Antarctic Circle and back again every year, we fare pretty poorly. Despite our limited wayfinding instincts, wayfinding strategies rely on a solid understanding of how humans navigate. Wayfinding theory can fill…

A guest contribution by Patrick Eley and Alan Stevenson. When we think about sense of place, we don’t often think about wayfinding. We might think about architecture, landscaping, furniture or exhibitions and while those are all powerful influences, signage and wayfinding are among the most fundamental factors in how we perceive place. A sign can…