Have you ever been to a location, say a large hospital or airport, and you did not know your way around? You have to keep asking people where this room or that room is and you got lost a few times. This is not a pleasant experience in any way.

Installing directional wayfinding signs may seem a trivial thing but it is one of the best things that you can do for your property or building especially a commercial one. With these signs, you can guide your customers or visitor on how to move around your building instead of them getting lost or wasting time and energy moving about.

What is A Wayfinding Signage?

Wayfinding signage, like its name suggests, is used to direct human traffic, making it easy for them to find their way around a place. These are signs that give directions to people. They help customers find their way around without getting lost. For instance, a new visitor to your building may need to use the restroom. If there is an obvious sign that shows where the toilets are located and differentiates between a male and a female toilet, the visitor can easily follow the directions and not have to ask or get lost. This shows how customer-friendly your business is.

Whatever choice of signage you use will depend on your property or building layout. There are many options you can choose from ranging from symbols to arrows and words. You can even use a mix of all three but it has to be consistent and not confuse people.

Wayfinding signage can be made from different materials. Some of the common materials are aluminum, rigid plastic, acrylic, floor decals, brushed aluminum, reflective aluminum, and A-frames. You can see more about wayfinding signage in this article.

Why You Need Them

Wayfinding and directional signs help to create a safe and customer-friendly space around your property. It helps keep your customers relaxed and happy while they go around doing their business at your place. Installing these signs and making them easy to understand and as visible as possible will do a lot for your business more than you can imagine.

For your wayfinding system to be effective, you must know what your customers want, what they are looking for, and what is effective enough to catch their eyes. An ineffective wayfinding guide can be quite a frustrating experience. You do not want to put your customers in a position where they are stressed from having to find their way around your premises, leading them to conclude not to come over or patronize your business again. It is also not good enough to let your clients or customers depend on your employees to help them with directions. While they might do so, occasionally, it is not the best and should not be the norm.

Types

Wayfinding signage is of four categories. They are identification, information, directional, and warning. Each type has its purpose and effective use.

Information Signs

These kind of signs are used as a first step when a person gets into a new environment. They indicate where the customer currently is and what they can find there. They are usually specific to an area and may not tell what the other areas look like. Examples include descriptions and standing signs.

Identification Signs

These are used for pointing out a feature or service that the customer needs. They simply help draw the customer’s attention to a feature. This kind of service can be a restroom or public washroom, etc.

Directional Signs

These are the broadest of all the types. They give the customer a full view of the building and may be specific or vague. They can include maps and roads of a facility and help to show where something is located and how to get there.

Warning Signs

These are used to make people aware of any hazards in an area such as fire safety signs, wet floors. They are one of the most important as they help keep people safe. They are also often required as part of buildings. You can find more on different types of directional signage here: https://www.travelwayfinding.com/types-of-wayfinding-signs/.

Conclusion

Wayfinding signage is an important feature on a property or in any building because they help guide people around an unfamiliar place such as parks, hospitals, airports, event centers, and so on. It is essential to create a wayfinding plan that easily communicates directions to anyone on your premises. This will prevent them from getting lost and frustrated. They should also be consistent as well as clear enough and your business will be the better for it as it will encourage more people to come around.