Answering your FAQs

Q: What does Air Design do?

Air Design is a London based creative design consultancy specialising in wayfinding, branding, placemaking, and design strategy. Founded in 1998, we help developers, asset managers, operators, and public bodies create environments that are distinctive, navigable, and commercially effective. Our work spans retail, leisure, hospitality, residential, mixed-use, healthcare, workplace, and campus environments across more than 30 countries.

Q: Where is Air Design based?

Air Design is headquartered in London, UK, with projects delivered in more than 30 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Q: How long has Air Design been in business?
Air Design was founded in 1998 and has over 26 years of experience in wayfinding, branding, and placemaking design.

Q: What sectors does Air Design work in?

Air Design works across commercial, mixed-use, retail, leisure, hospitality, residential, healthcare, workplace, campus, and public realm environments.

Q: What awards has Air Design won?

Air Design has received 10 design awards including: Transform Awards Gold for wayfinding and signage at Kidbrooke Village; Transform Awards Silver for Forum Gdansk; ICSC Award for Rive Gauche shopping centre in Belgium; and a Sign Design Society Award for excellence in multi-language and multi-script signage for Russian Railways.

Q: Who are Air Design’s clients?

Air Design’s clients include Emaar Hospitality Group, Berkeley Group, AEW, Ballymore, NEPI Rockcastle, Immofinanz, Pradera, Multi Corporation, Cenomi, Sela, Shoosmiths LLP, HM Government of Gibraltar and Middlesbrough Council, among others.

Q: Is Air Design a member of any professional bodies?

Yes. Air Design is a member of the Sign Design Society, ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centres), and MECSC (Middle East Council of Shopping Centres and Retailers).

Q: How do I start a project with Air Design?

The best starting point is a conversation. Contact Air Design at info@airdesign.co.uk or via the contact form at airdesign.co.uk/contact/. We’ll discuss your brief, timeline, and objectives, and can advise on the most appropriate scope and approach for your project.

Q: At what stage should I involve a wayfinding or branding consultant?

The earlier the better. Air Design frequently joins projects at the earliest strategic stage‚ before spatial layouts are fixed or design briefs are issued‚ and stays involved through to fabrication and installation. Engaging a wayfinding or branding consultant early avoids costly revisions later and ensures that identity and navigation are considered as fundamental design inputs rather than afterthoughts.

Q: Does Air Design work internationally?

Yes. Air Design has delivered projects in more than 30 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Central Asia. International projects include Tashkent City Mall in Uzbekistan, The Address Hotels in Dubai, Russian Railways national wayfinding system, Digital City Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, and the Shanghai Modern Art Museum in China.

Q: Does Air Design manage fabrication and installation?

Air Design provides design and artwork through to production-ready files and works closely with specialist fabricators to ensure designs are manufactured correctly. We have an established working relationship with fabrication partners and can support the procurement and installation process, though fabrication is typically carried out by specialist contractors.

Q: Can Air Design help with both strategy and delivery?

Yes. Air Design covers the full scope from initial strategy through to physical delivery. Depending on the project, this can include design strategy, brand identity, wayfinding planning, cartography, information architecture, signage design, artwork production, and support through fabrication and installation.

Q: What is wayfinding design?

Wayfinding design is the process of helping people navigate and understand an environment through a coordinated system of signage, mapping, typography, colour, and spatial cues. Effective wayfinding goes beyond directing people from A to B‚ it shapes first impressions, supports accessibility, influences dwell time, and communicates the character and identity of a place.

Q: What is the difference between wayfinding and signage?

Signage refers to the physical signs installed in a space. Wayfinding is the broader strategic and design process that determines what signs are needed, where they should go, what information they carry, and how they work together as a system. Good wayfinding starts with understanding how people move through and experience a space, the signage is the output of that thinking, not the starting point.

Q: What does a wayfinding project involve?

A typical wayfinding project with Air Design covers: an audit of the existing environment and user experience; a location planning strategy identifying where signs are needed; design development including typography, colour, iconography, and mapping; cartography production; artwork preparation for fabrication; and support through to installation. We work with clients from initial brief through to completion.

Q: How does wayfinding affect footfall and commercial performance?

Well-designed wayfinding directly influences commercial performance by reducing visitor frustration, encouraging exploration, and extending dwell time. Festival Place Basingstoke saw annual footfall grow from 20 million to 22.4 million‚ a 25% increase‚ following Air Design’s integrated branding and wayfinding programme. Waasland Shopping Centre in Belgium achieved an immediate 20% footfall increase following our wayfinding and interior redesign.

Q: What is inclusive wayfinding?

Inclusive wayfinding ensures that navigation systems work for all users regardless of ability, age, language, or familiarity with a place. This includes accessible sign heights and mounting positions, high contrast typography, pictograms based on recognised standards, multi-language provision, and tactile elements where required. Air Design applies inclusive design principles as standard across all wayfinding projects.

Q: Can wayfinding be sustainable?

Air Design has delivered fully recyclable wayfinding systems, most notably at Kidbrooke Village in London‚ a project that won Gold at the Transform Awards. Sustainable wayfinding considers material selection, modular and interchangeable components to extend system life, and minimal waste in production and installation.

Q: What types of environments does Air design wayfinding for?

Air Design designs wayfinding systems for retail and shopping centres, town centres and high streets, mixed-use developments, residential communities, hotels and hospitality venues, museums and cultural institutions, office and campus environments, transit networks, and healthcare facilities.

Q: What is placemaking?

Placemaking is the process of shaping the physical, social, and cultural character of a place so that it feels distinctive, welcoming, and genuinely connected to the people who use it. At Air Design, placemaking begins with research into a site’s history, community, and context‚ before any design decisions are made. The goal is to create places that feel like they belong somewhere particular, rather than anywhere in general.

Q: What is the difference between branding and placemaking?

Branding defines how a place or organisation is identified and perceived‚ through name, visual identity, tone of voice, and communications. Placemaking is the broader process of shaping the physical and experiential character of a place. The two are closely related: at Air Design, we believe brand strategy should inform spatial and design decisions from the earliest stage, not be applied as a layer of communication afterwards.

Q: What is place branding?

Place branding is the application of brand strategy to a location‚ whether a town centre, development, retail destination, or public space. It involves defining what makes a place distinctive, who it is for, and how that identity should be expressed across every touchpoint from signage to marketing to the physical environment. Air Design has delivered place branding for locations including Blanchardstown Centre in Dublin, Bargate Quarter in Southampton, and the Opportunity Egypt investment campaign for the Egyptian Government.

Q: Should brand strategy come before or after master planning?

At Air Design, we believe brand strategy should come before spatial decisions are fixed, not after. Every masterplan carries implicit assumptions about identity‚ decisions about land use, movement, and hierarchy all express something about who a place is for. If those assumptions haven’t been consciously shaped through brand strategy, they will still be made‚ through precedent or instinct and the result is often a place that feels generic. Brand before blueprint produces places with genuine distinctiveness.