The purpose of a good wayfinding strategy is to guide people on their journey. To do this, it must be clear and obvious to avoid unnecessary confusion. It’s important, then, to take into account all kinds of experiences and perspectives to make sure it doesn’t fail for anyone. Ensuring your wayfinding is designed inclusively means that no matter who needs to be guided on their journey, they will all be able to find their way. Without designing with inclusivity in mind, your wayfinding strategy will fail for more people than you may realise.
One in five people in the UK have a disability or impairment, but only two thirds of them are visible. Inclusive design needs to take into account all kinds, as well as some difficulties that are minor. For example, there are around 3 million colour blind people in the UK. For signage design to be clear to them, the colours used need to be properly distinguishable. On top of this, there are different types of colour blindness make people unable to see different colours. So, a good wayfinding strategy will have a consistent design that is clear to all types of colourblindness. This is especially important since there are many people who are not yet aware that they are colourblind.
Use of colour isn’t the only consideration you need to make. Around 10% of the population have dyslexia, which makes it more difficult to read. There are a few ways to make the text throughout their wayfinding experience accessible to them, however. One of these is to use sans serif fonts, which prevents words and letters bleeding together. Some other strategies include making the text size bigger and the space between letters smaller, while making the space between words larger. Often when undergoing a journey, people don’t have much time to read material quickly. Therefore, making designs inclusive to those with dyslexia will allow them to scan through text much more easily.
Some impairments prevent people from taking in certain mediums of communication. In order to make wayfinding inclusive to them, information should be repeated in different ways to ensure everyone understands it. For example signage is a significant part of wayfinding, but for people with visual impairments it can be difficult to use them to navigate. You might not have realised it, but there are methods to account for this you’ve probably seen in your day-to-day life. For example, engraving braille can impart important information, as can using audio cues such as announcements or bleeps. You might notice tactile pavement on British streets; it’s often yellow or red and bumpy. This is in place to help blind people find road crossings, a concept which can also be incorporated into a wayfinding strategy.
On the other hand, the hearing impaired will not be able to hear audio cues and will likely not be able to read braille. Likewise, they may not know the function of tactile pavement. Therefore, to keep their wayfinding experience consistent, all the information communicated by these methods must also be imparted in other ways. This means traditional signage is effective, but it also means that audio should be subtitled. If there are opportunities to use it, sign language is also an effective form of communication. By crossing over the same information through multiple mediums is ensures no message is lost to anyone.
Designing with physical impairments in mind is different to those mentioned above. It generally involves signposting alternative routes that are wheelchair accessible or easier to cross. Not all physical impairments are related to mobility however. For example some people may not be able to hold onto a phone or letter that might impart important information. Ideally all types of physical impairments should be properly accounted for. Depending on the project, this can understandably be difficult to do, but it is greatly appreciated by those who need it. It is the sign of truly great wayfinding design that it can be followed and understood by anyone no matter the circumstances.
If you need a wayfinding project designed with inclusivity in mind, get in touch. We’d be happy to help!