In the world of property development, wayfinding is key. Imagine wayfinding is the key that unlocks the way future users will navigate and experience your development. This article aims to provide information and key considerations in regards to wayfinding for property developers. Keep reading to find out more…
When developing a wayfinding plan for a site, it’s crucial the designers take into consideration the surrounding area. If it’s located in a public space, are there any other buildings or important customer considerations that you should take into account? Additionally, there may also be points of interest, landmarks and transportation links that you will want to work into your wayfinding design. It may be helpful to look at other wayfinding systems in the area and compare how they interact with the wider community.
The user journey has and will always be at the heart of wayfinding. Therefore, without fully understanding the user journey into, through and out of an area, it will be difficult to implement a useful system. It’s important to remember that there are many different types of area users and therefore various user journeys you should consider. For example, a staff member will have very different needs to those of a visitor or delivery person. The best way to ensure that the wayfinding system is truly user-focused is to assume that each person using the space has never been there previously.
A strong wayfinding system will be one that operates without the user having to think too deeply into how to navigate it. That being said, you want your wayfinding system to enhance the user experience and have an effective sense of place. In other words, you want the user to navigate easily without feeling like any of the signage, directions or maps are out of place within the area.
Within wayfinding for property developers, it’s important that you keep certain destinations a priority as these will be the most commonly frequented. For example, flat/apartment numbers, offices, departments and help desks are all very common destinations that should be easily accessible. If the budget you are working with is thinner than what you’d like, make sure you give these your primary focus.
We’ve mentioned this before in previous articles, consistency is the key to success. Wayfinding is no different, without consistency between place branding through to your signage, the entire system will seem unfinished. You can learn more about consistency in terms of branding and marketing here. As for wayfinding, it’s important to consult with the team handling marketing decisions to make sure everything you are doing aligns with each other.
Hopefully, this article has provided useful information for designers tackling wayfinding projects within property development. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call. We’d be happy to have a chat.