Wayfinding – The five things that get specified before anyone asks what the place should feel like
I’ve seen this pattern on projects of every scale. It’s not anyone’s fault. It’s just how procurement works.
๐ชง ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ป ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐. Post-mounted, wall-mounted, totem, projecting. All agreed before the first conversation about who uses this place and why they come.
๐งฑ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐. Aluminium extrusion, powder coat, toughened glass. The finish is locked before the feeling is even discussed.
๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ. Often inherited from a separate marketing exercise or corporate identity that was designed for letterheads, not for someone moving through or experiencing a place.
๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐. How many signs, at what intervals, covering what area. A logistics exercise dressed up as a design brief.
๐ฌ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฟ๐๐บ. If the physical outcome is determined at the start, what meaningful input can stakeholders or the community have?
By the time someone asks, “how should this feel?”, the decisions that answer that question have already been made.
That’s not a procurement problem. It’s a sequencing problem and it’s worth fixing early, because it’s almost impossible to fix later.
It’s why being a consultant matters as much as being a designer. We’re most useful before the spec is written, not after it.
Airdesign Wayfinding Signagedesign WayfindingConsultant ย WayfindingDesignย Wayfindingandsignageconsultant ย Placemaking PlaceIdentityย Designstrategy Makingplacespeoplelove
