Wayfinding - Chapters

Chapter 1 The nature of wayfinding difficulties	The emergence of wayfinding difficulties, one may think, is a recent phenomenon brought on by the complexity of contemporary buildings and cities. Nobody can deny that these difficulties are exacerbated in today’s urban settings, but a little bit of digging shows clearly that difficulties with knowing where one is, where to go, and how to get there, all go back a very long way. An anthropological view of the labyrinth – which is both the artifact and the symbol of being disoriented and lost – brings to light a preoccupation with this subject which is as old as humankind. In this chapter we introduce the nature of contemporary wayfinding difficulties. There are so many of them that even making a representative choice is difficult.

Chapter 2 The impact of wayfinding difficulties	From a discussion of the causes of our wayfinding difficulties, we turn now to the effect that they have on contemporary life, particularly in terms of exposing us to unnecessary frustration and stress, to making things work less well than they should, and to safety in public spaces.

Chapter 3 Standing in the way of wayfinding solutions	Having briefly referred to some of the impacts of wayfinding problems in the previous chapter, here we attempt to uncover some of the reasons why wayfinding has been neglected or ignored for so long. Two of the basic stumbling blocks to a solution are 1) that our society does not yet care enough, and 2) that architects have been too intent on the niceties of architectural design while graphic designers have been too intent on those of typography and on not offending the architects to care either. But attitudes can change.

Chapter 4 What are spatial orientation and wayfinding?	In the literature on spatial behavior, wayfinding is a newcomer. Introduced in the late 70s, it replaced the term “spatial orientation.” Wayfinding is not just a new and, we have to admit, now quite fashionable term for an old concept. It reflects a new approach to studying people’s movements and their relationship to space. Even more importantly, this new approach opens up new ways to design for people’s spatial behavior. In this chapter we sketch a brief research history and introduce the basic concepts of spatial orientation, cognitive maps, and wayfinding.

Chapter 5 How the wayfinding process works	Having introduced the general idea, we are now ready to study the clockwork of wayfinding, that is, to study what is involved when people attempt to reach spatial destinations. In this chapter, first we outline how spatial problem solving can be conceptualized, and then we describe in more detail the key characteristics of decision making, decision executing, and information processing. Wayfinding design is based on a good understanding of the wayfinding process.

Chapter 6 What is wayfinding design?	Wayfinding requirements, whether they be at the regional, urban, or architectural scale, are integral to the design process – from the most general, overall spatial organization of the setting to the articulation of the form-giving features, and right down to the individual architectural and graphic messages. Wayfinding requirements shape the setting, affect the choice of the circulation system, and contribute to the design of the interior. This is particularly true in large building complexes. The enormous impact of wayfinding considerations on the outcome of the design of a setting is one of the reasons we feel justified in using the term “wayfinding design.” The other reason is strategic. Wayfinding is a very important aspect of daily life and has been neglected for so long that we want to give it its rightful place on the drawing board. We are totally convinced on this subject. Even if it can be argued that, in the past, the built environment was relatively simple and clear, this is certainly not true of today’s mammoth building complexes. When “wayfinding design” becomes a consideration in its own right (like “HVAC” or “emergency exit procedures”), planners will be made aware that it is a vital part of design, and if they pride themselves on being professionals, they should know about it. Wayfinding design is also a principle. It is user oriented and derives its approach and its interventions from the behavioral and psychological foundations of wayfinding. Efficient, accessible, safe, and spatially attractive wayfinding environments can be designed only when the principles of wayfinding are understood and when this knowledge is translated into applicable form. The aim of this chapter is to make the link between design and the wayfinding principles introduced previously. Two aspects of wayfinding design will retain our attention: spatial planning and environmental communication.

Chapter 7 Who is involved in wayfinding design?	The faithful reader who has followed the argument so far will be well aware of the fact that much more is involved in wayfinding design than merely putting up nice-looking, inoffensive signs and that graphic designers are not the only professionals involved. In this chapter, we identify other members of the cast – all of whom, from their various perspectives, have major influences on how visitors to a building will ultimately find their way about in it. This chapter also serves to point out another significant fact which is that “design” (as in wayfinding design) involves more than architects and graphic designers. Management plays an important role too.

Chapter 8 For whom do we plan?	Architects and graphic designers have tended to see the user of their settings as a stereotyped, physically fit, attentive individual, with only one preoccupation – to explore and enjoy the settings they have created. The reality, however, is quite different. Many users have impairments in respect to perception, cognition, and mobility (physical behavior), which affect their wayfinding abilities. Some of these impairments are permanent, some are temporary; some are slight, some are profound. This chapter provides an overview of user groups and reviews some of the major impairments affecting wayfinding. It concludes with a philosophical position in respect to designing for the handicapped and the so-called normal population.

Chapter 9 Planning for wayfinding conditions	In terms of the strictest orthodoxy, wayfinding conditions are described as normal (or “resolute”), recreational, or emergency. Normal wayfinding conditions are those in which the provisions for wayfinding in a given setting are measured exclusively in terms of their efficiency and utility. Recreational wayfinding conditions, by contrast, call for the ability to explore and enjoy a given setting. And hanging like a pall over both are the emergency conditions that can and do happen at any time, anywhere.

Chapter 10 Spatial planning	The difficulty of a wayfinding task is affected by two major physical factors: the layout of the setting and the quality of the environmental communication. The layout is defined by its spatial content, its form, its organization, and its circulation. Environmental communication includes all of the architectural, audible, and graphic expressions that provide the essential information for wayfinding. In this chapter we look at the first item, the layout and its planning. The layout of a setting is conceived at a very early stage in the planning process. Wayfinding problems are intimately linked to the configuration of the layout. It is therefore never too early to think about wayfinding.

Chapter 11 Architectural wayfinding communication	Many people think that signs are the most important means of providing wayfinding information in an urban or architectural setting. Without downplaying the importance of signs, it is nevertheless easy to show that the natural and built environments provide the wayfinding person with a great variety of basic wayfinding cues. If you see a road you understand that you can walk along it without having to see a sign saying that you can do so. You can enter a building through a doorway even if it is without an entrance sign. You may even know what is in the building and how it is spatially organized just by looking at it. You can use a nature trail, a park, a square, an avenue, an elevator, or a stair, because wayfinding information is contained in these elements. People in their daily movements have to pick up circulation information in order to find their way. They have to find out where to enter a setting and where to exit it. They have to recognize destinations. They have to identify the paths of horizontal and vertical circulation systems. To be fully efficient, they have to understand circulation systems. This chapter is about architectural wayfinding communication. It outlines the architectural features that define the circulation and it proposes means to communicate the relevant wayfinding information.

Chapter 12 Classification of graphic information	Our ability to classify, and therefore to structure, information is at the basis of all knowledge. If it is not mankind’s greatest gift, it is certainly one of them. The ability to recognize and articulate the components in a signage problem puts us already close to its solution. We have found the classifications that comprise this chapter very useful in practice.

Chapter 13 Forms of graphic information	The purpose of “the graphics” in wayfinding is to assist people first in the decision-making process and then in the decision-executing process, in other words, to help them find their way to their destinations along their chosen routes. Before we come to the kinds of graphics involved in each process, in two subsequent chapters, we deal here with the forms that graphic information may take. For purposes of simplicity, we subdivide these forms into two major groups: verbal (or typographic) and non-verbal (or pictographic). Each is discussed in terms of how it is affected by color, layout, and lighting.

Chapter 14 Graphic information for decision making	People need graphic information in order to formulate an action plan with respect to wayfinding in an unfamiliar setting, in other words, for decision making. The graphic information they need involves orientation and general information about the setting. The type of information needed once an action plan has been developed and is in the process of execution is the subject of Chapter 15.

Chapter 15 Graphic information for decision executing	Having successfully formulated their action plans (see Chapter 14), visitors to an unfamiliar setting will need different types of information to assist them in getting efficiently to their chosen destinations. Unfortunately, however, few of these “types of information” have ever been standardized and, as a result, they are called different things in different buildings. Floor level names are an example of this. Is the floor on which a person enters a building from the street called “main,” or “ground,” or “lobby,” or “1,” or something else again? And what if this same building has major entrances not just on one level, but on two? Are each of these also called “ground” or “main,” etc? And if not, then how are they distinguished? How are they identified on elevator control buttons? Room numbering is another area where, apparently, anything goes. Is there such a thing as a system? And if so, will it work on open-landscape floors as well as on those with conventional corridors? Where do signs “go”? Is there a point to standardizing this, or is it good enough to continue the practice of putting them wherever they can conveniently be fitted in? These and other issues dealt with in this chapter are, we feel, very important and, on all of them, we have recommendations to make. On the other hand, there are many ways of doing things, some neither better nor worse than others. It is therefore less important that our recommendations be adopted than that out of them there should emerge an agreement among practitioners and building owners and managers that standardization is desirable.

Chapter 16 Audible information for decision making and executing	The ear is the main source of information for the sightless and the visually impaired. Literacy-impaired and developmentally and situationally impaired persons also may find that obtaining information by ear is preferable to trying to obtain it visually. The application of audible forms of communication is, however, by no means limited to these categories of users. Most, if not all, of the means discussed in this chapter have a broad application to wayfinding generally to the extent that sighted persons, under certain circumstances, will actually prefer to have information imparted audibly rather than visually. This is particularly true of directional information.

Chapter 17 Tactile information for decision making and executing	At the end of Chapter 8, we expressed our preference for the macro- (as distinct from the micro-) approach to planning. Everything in this book to this point has been predicated exclusively on the macro-approach. Nothing in the previous chapter on audible wayfinding components, for example, could possibly be described as specifically related to any particular user group: information desks, audible maps, public address systems, even bells and buzzers – all have application in one way or another to the entire population. Having said all that, this book would have been decidedly incomplete without reference to the area of tactual information, which has a more tenuous relationship to the wayfinding practices of the population as a whole, but is nevertheless significant. Tactile spatial maps would be meaningless to the congenitally blind if they were unable to conceptualize space. These comments refer exclusively to hand-held maps. Blind people can incorporate information from different maps and figure out routes that involve movements in three dimensions.