Wayfinding is the process of navigating through a facility or campus—an experience that can be frustrating when not done well. If you’re not a regular visitor, finding your way can be challenging, often leading to stress and confusion.
Effective wayfinding can be a silent hero, giving visitors the confidence to navigate complex environments. However, as we’ve seen at PLANIT Studios, poor wayfinding can become an invisible villain, disrupting visitor experiences, frustrating staff, and costing organizations time and resources.
Here are the seven signs of bad wayfinding and how to address them:
1. “The Twirl”
Have you ever noticed people spinning around in lobbies or hallways, trying to find their way? We call this “the twirl.” It happens when someone walks confidently in one direction, only to realize they’re lost and need to reorient themselves.
This is a clear sign of poor wayfinding, often due to unclear or misleading signage. It can also indicate a larger issue: the lack of a comprehensive wayfinding strategy.
2. Overwhelming Amounts of Signage
Imagine trying to listen to 15 people speaking at once—some yelling, some whispering, and others speaking normally. This is often how visitors feel when bombarded with too much signage. Effective wayfinding should guide and empower people, but bad wayfinding overwhelms them with excessive signs, colors, and messages.
When there’s too much information, people get lost in the noise.
3. Unreadable Signs
Signage design should prioritize accessibility. Signs should be easy to read, with large, bold text that contrasts sharply with the background. Unfortunately, many facilities end up with signs that, while visually appealing, are difficult to read due to small text, poor placement, or lack of contrast.
Unreadable signs are a common symptom of bad wayfinding.
4. Staff Walk People to Their Destinations
While it’s nice when staff walk visitors to their destinations, it shouldn’t be the norm. When staff frequently have to guide lost visitors, it indicates a wayfinding issue. This not only wastes time but also causes frustration for both staff and visitors.
A robust wayfinding strategy should empower visitors to navigate on their own. Digital tools like kiosks and Mazemap have made self-service wayfinding more accessible in recent years.
5. Marketing Overshadows Wayfinding
In many facilities, marketing efforts can sometimes overshadow wayfinding, leading to confusion. While marketing is essential, it shouldn’t come at the expense of clear navigation. Effective collaboration between marketing and wayfinding teams ensures that visitors are both informed and able to find their way.
When marketing banners overshadow directional signs, visitors are left wandering the halls, more focused on finding their destination than engaging with marketing messages.
6. Visitors Are Regularly Late
If a facility consistently sees a high number of late arrivals to meetings or appointments, it could be a sign of poor wayfinding. While occasional tardiness is expected, a pattern of late arrivals suggests that visitors struggle to navigate the environment. This can lead to frustration for both visitors and staff and, over time, can result in financial losses as visitors may eventually stop showing up altogether.
7. Losing Visitors to Other Facilities
When visitors leave a facility never to return, wayfinding is rarely blamed. However, feeling lost and confused during an already stressful time can significantly impact a visitor’s perception of the experience. If visitors struggle to find their way in or out of the facility, they may choose to go elsewhere in the future.
Poor wayfinding can give the impression of lower-quality service, driving visitors away and hindering the facility’s growth.
Are you looking to position your organization for growth in the next decade? At PLANIT Studios, our team of designers and landscape architects specializes in solving problems that elevate your audience’s experience, turning customers into loyal brand ambassadors.
Whether you’re part of a large campus, corporate environment, or small business, we’d be honored to bring our creativity and expertise to your organization. Learn more about PLANIT Studios and schedule a free consultation Here.