Signage & wayfinding

The plan comes before the sign

Most signage problems do not arise because the signs are badly made, but because they have been added one by one over the years without a coherent plan. The result is a corridor with eight signs where two would do, in four typefaces, and still nobody finds the right door.

Our approach starts with a route analysis. Where do people enter, what are the destinations, and at which points must they choose? At each decision point there should be exactly one clear instruction, and between two decision points a confirmation that they are still on the right track. Anything beyond that is noise. We often end up with fewer signs than were there before, and a result that works noticeably better.

Legibility: the details that count

A sign is only useful when it is read at the distance at which it needs to be read.

• Letter height follows from reading distance. A rule of thumb that works well in practice: roughly one centimetre of letter height per three metres of distance, and more when people are moving.
• Contrast between text and background matters more than the choice of colour. Dark on light generally reads more comfortably than the reverse.
• One sans-serif typeface throughout the building, in upper and lower case. A word set entirely in capitals reads noticeably more slowly.
• Limit the number of destinations per sign. Beyond five or six lines the reader gives up.
• Choose consistent wording. Someone who reads "Radiology" on the first sign should not find "Imaging" at the door.
• Avoid reflective materials where light falls strongly.

Accessible to everyone

Signage that only works for those who see well and read fluently does half its job.

• Pictograms support those who do not speak the language or read with difficulty. Use common, recognisable symbols rather than in-house creations.
• Braille and tactile characters on door signs at a consistent height help blind visitors, provided they are always in the same place.
• Sufficient contrast and a matt finish help people with low vision.
• Calm, predictable signage without an excess of stimuli helps visitors with a cognitive impairment or autism. For care and education settings this is an explicit point of attention in our design.
• Multilingual signage where the user group requires it, with a fixed order of languages.

Safety signage and legislation

Safety signage is not a design freedom but an obligation. Escape route marking, fire-fighting equipment, and prohibition, mandatory and warning signs are standardised in shape, colour and pictogram. We work with standardised pictograms and supply, where applicable, photoluminescent material so that the indication stays visible during a power failure.

In an audit or inspection, these are the points that go wrong: missing or outdated pictograms, evacuation plans that no longer match the layout, and signage obscured by furniture or storage. We are happy to walk through this with you and supply a schedule of what needs to be changed.

Materials by environment

• Indoors: dibond, acrylic, aluminium composite, anodised aluminium and system profiles with interchangeable text panels. The latter is sensible where names or functions change regularly.
• Outdoors: powder-coated or anodised aluminium, with UV-resistant film or digital print. Choose a quality that matches the intended service life, because cheap film fades visibly within a few years.
• Industry: materials resistant to cleaning, chemicals, heat or moisture, and floor marking that withstands forklift traffic.
• Care and food: smooth, cleanable surfaces without seams where dirt can lodge.

Growing with the building

Organisations change: departments move, teams are renamed, a wing is added. We therefore build with interchangeable inserts wherever possible and supply a signage plan listing the materials, colours, typefaces and supplier details used. Your facilities team can then order an additional sign that matches the rest exactly, even years later and even if you work with another partner.