We have only just finished working on the bid phase of a PPP (Public Private Partnership – WikiPedia),  developing the wayshowing strategy for a large hospital and are already on to the next one.

PPP’s are challenging and exciting at the same time; challenging because the limited time that the team has to develop the design concepts, and exciting because the architects, landscape designers, interior designers and us wayshowing strategists, work very closely together.

A quality wayshowing system is a critical component of any complex built environment.

It employs established theories of human cognition and human factors research, to deliver information in a way that allow humans to intuitively and/or automatically navigate a complex environment.  It minimises the amount of time, attention, and energy a person spends finding their way to a destination.

Wayshowing strategists work with a number of built-form design disciplines from project inception through to implementation, review, and on going maintenance, to deliver buildings and environments that exploit innate human behavioural traits in order to achieve business or social outcomes.

Patients, visitors, educators, researchers, medical staff, administrators, retailers, delivery services, and the diverse surrounding community all have substantially different navigational needs. Additionally, within each user group, individuals use different methods of transport.

A successful wayshowing strategy ensures quality of service by carefully considering the individual needs of each type of user group, as well as the needs of the facility as a cohesive system. It requires a holistic approach, both geospatially and operationally.  To ensure quality and cost effectiveness, it is important that a wayshowing strategy develops in parallel with a hospital at all phases of development.

It is also important that the planning of the wayshowing system be front loaded at the higher conceptual levels or project development.  Doing so ensures consistency in the overall wayshowing strategy, which is paramount to a successful wayshowing system.  Front loading strategy also prevents the trickle down of wayshowing system defects that would require post design, post construction documentation, or post construction remediation.  Correction of such defects can be extremely costly and reduce the overall performance of the wayshowing system.

ID/Lab draws on its experience-based knowledge and current scientifically based research to employ a best practice wayfinding/wayshowing strategy. We utilise that knowledge and the research findings to assist architectural, interior, graphics, and urban designers with the development of both implicit and explicit environmental stimuli.

ID/Lab is looking for Wayfinding/Wayshowing Strategists.

You could come from a background of architecture, urban planning or graphic/interior/industrial design –or not, as long as you have good writing skills (quite a bit of our work is writing recommendation reports), are able to read architectural plans, have a “3-D mind”, are a problem solver and confident in dealing with clients.

The position is fulltime, from our Docklands location (easy access to public transport and bike paths!)

If this sounds interesting, please contact us here. If you know someone who fits the above criteria, could you please point them to this page??

Falls Creek is a ski-in, ski-out resort in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. Historically, the focus of activity has been winter sports, but the resort has now been turned into a four season, vibrant and sustainable village.

At the end of 2006, Falls Creek Resort Management (FCRM) send out a RFT to ‘Replace Wayfinding Signage’ in the winter sport village of Falls Creek, in Victoria, Australia.

This RFT described their objective as:

This was further described as:

• Assist users in navigating by: informing, directing and identifying
• Protect the safety of the public
• Visually enhance the environment
• Promote entities, events and functions
• Strongly communicate Falls Creek’s unique character
• Improve the functionality, versatility and durability of the sign system

Although the objectives created enough space to develop a good wayshowing/wayfinding system, it was followed by a description of existing signs, their quantities and which of these needed to be replaced with new hardware; treating the project as a signage exercise, not as a wayfinding one.

In preparation of our tender response, ID/Lab did a preliminary survey of the village. It was clear that the existing signage hardware – ranging from the VIC-Roads traffic signs to directional signage in the village and from entry statements to promotional business signage- was a collection of individually designed and implemented structures. The directional signage confused more than it informed, and there was no system to what information was provided where and how.

Unlike the other five tender submitters, we did not put forward any design options. Any concepts at this stage would be ‘pretty pictures’ only. It is impossible to provide meaningful design concepts, without having in-depth knowledge about the organisation’s exact requirements and associated performance specifications.

ID/Lab presented a business case showing the operational and economical benefits of a holistically developed wayfinding system. The Resort Management understood that, while the up-front time and cost involved in researching and producing such a system may be higher, the end result would provide better results and possible significant long term savings – using less signage hardware, better designed to utilise common components, withstand abuse and minimise maintenance. We got the order……

Strategy Development

The first step in the development of the strategy was to emerge ourselves into the environment. We wanted to feel the village, understand how it operated, both in summer and ‘under snow’. Next step was to extract information from the main stakeholders; what had their experience been, what business objectives did they have, and how did they see the village work best. This was done through interviews, with groups ranging from resort staff, lift operators, bus drivers, tourist information, restaurant and hotel owners, through to accommodation providers, urban planners, architects, park rangers, emergency services, Chamber of Commerce, ski, walking and mountain bike clubs.

We analysed a number of wayfinding tasks, where we set people a certain destination, and observed what actions they took to reach that destination. Although relatively labour intensive, it was seen as an integral component of the strategy development. One of the outcomes was understanding the difference in navigating the steep, mountain roads, compared with a normal urban environment. Roads in Falls Creek zig-zag to climb up the mountain, which means that often you have to go east, to reach a destination west of you. This threw out people’s reliance on their cognitive mapping ability, and showed that the system even needed to direct to well known destinations.

Recommendations

The results of the strategy development were presented to and accepted by the FCRM board. The most important recommendations were:

• Build two ’short-cut’ walk ways, to make pedestrian journeys shorter
• Changes to the winter parking and carpark-to-accommodation transport system
• Clearer identification of shuttle stops
• Better visibility of signage during winter
• Create information hub for summer visitors
• Changes to main entry road to slow down traffic
• Create connection with activities that start in, but leave the village (e.g. walking and x-country ski trails)
• Create consistency in resort branding expressions
• Promote the use of one, specially designed, map
• Develop a signage hardware system that can be maintained by resort staff

A number of the recommendations were added to the resort’s masterplan, and others were further developed by us.

Implementation

After developing the strategy, ID/Lab created a wayfinding toolkit. This toolkit set out what information needed to be displayed where, and how this information could best be displayed. It included gateway, building, trail-head, statutory, traffic, directional, interpretive, promotional, retail and advertising signage.

Buro North was engaged to design the signage hardware, based on our performance specification that described materials, longevity, visibility, legibility and usability requirements.

Because of budget restraints and seasonal demands, the actual implementation of the signage hardware only began after the 2009 ski season. We are looking forward to seeing all the recommendations being implemented, over the next couple of years, as part of the continuing work on creating a world class –and legible– four season resort.