Our truDigital signage team have crafted this simple mnemonic to assist in the delivery of effective digital wayfinding information:
C - Clean
A - Accessible
S - Simple
E - Explanatory
This forms a quick guide for assessing what your wayfinding already should be, or as a useful guideline for any new projects. Here are four key advisories to help achieve best CASE results...
AVOID OVERCROWDING
Of course, for many locations, this is one of the purposes for introducing wayfinding screens. If it's easier to find their way, there is less likelihood of static crowds in rapidly congested areas.
The principle also applies to the screens themselves. Presenting clear and simple messages minimizes the time people need to spend taking in the information. If a fair amount of content needs to be delivered, consider the use of either a scrolling presentation or a bank of screens placed in an easy-to-follow order.
If wayfinding is just one part of an overall presentation, look to place it early in the piece, avoiding crowds gathering in frustration waiting to find out how to get where they need to be.
CREATE AN EFFORTLESS WAYFINDING PATHWAY
Maps placed in the carriages of the trains on city or suburban rail systems can show the complete route, allowing people who don't regularly use them to understand their journey and know how far they have progressed.
Consider the same for wayfinding for your organization, providing such maps can be large and clear enough to be easily accessible. Again, the journey could spread across several digital screens set in sequence at a single location.
Equally, those using the signage might move to different floors in an internal location, or to different buildings in a larger complex. So progressive screens in key locations can offer a step-by-step progress right through your building or site complex to their destination.
USE SPECIFIC COLORS & STANDARDIZED ICONOGRAPHY TO CLARIFY EXPLANATIONS
For almost a century, the famous London Underground diagrammatic map has used a different color code for each route. Using this process for the most-used journeys of those visiting your location(s), or for access to key departments or venues, can help people to clearly and quickly identify the parts of overall wayfinding content of immediate importance to them.
If you add a series of standardized and colored icons, both for key locations within your complex, and for common and much-used services (e.g. information kiosks if available, restrooms and baby changing stations, public and emergency exits) then the information is more quickly understood. If your map is for a location where many businesses have outlets or premises, their logos might also be added.
As you add color, avoid adding too many different choices, which can become confusing; aim to match them with any use of printed signage, and do carefully consider the implications of trying to read your wayfinding for people who are colorblind.
USE DIGITAL SCREEN FLEXIBILITY
Using an agile, cloud-based content delivery system, allows you to instantly amend information to reflect any problems, from closed or blocked outside roads or internal pathways, to accidents that can lead to the temporary closure of part of your facility. Such agility is as useful in a single building as it is for a multi-location operation.
How can our truDigital signage team help with your wayfaring requirements?
We have much knowledge of delivering an engaging user experience (UX) through flexible digital signage; your people are experts in your location(s) and wayfaring needs. Find out how we might best work together by calling us now on 1-801-852-9898 for an obligation-free conversation about the CASE for powerful digital wayfaring signage...
