The philosophy behind graphics and signage is to view spatial use not as secondary to the evolution of buildings; but as part of planning from the very outset.
In order to understand what people do and how they find their way, one has to understand the underlying process which is not just a concept of ‘spatial orientation’ but a notion incorporating all the perceptual, cognitive and decision-making processes necessary to find one’s way. This concept is called wayfinding.
The roles that are currently fulfilled by architects and graphic designers are still hostages to that outworn but still prevailing notion that architects design buildings, while graphic designers come along at the end of the building process and install some signs, and that the public is somehow helped by this.
Society no longer tolerates the idea that people’s inability to find their way around in the built environment is either trivial or unimportant.
There is an urgent need for us to escape from the status quo and explore new approaches to coping with these very real but, until recently, largely unacknowledged problems.
One approach is that of engaging a specialist signage designer from the outset of the project to investigate the options of integrating graphics and wayfinding with the architecture and interior design intent so as to achieve a legible and intuitive environment.
Signs are an integral part of the fabric and comprehension of the built environment. An illustration of how the Minale Tattersfield philosophy will deliver real value can be in a typical 800-bed hospital without adequate signage. An average of 8,000 hours is spent each year by staff members giving directions to visitors. The cost of installing an efficient and consistent sign system to stop this inefficiency is recovered in a short period of time.
January 2010 © Minale Tattersfield
Wayfinding and signage
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