Frequently Asked Questions about Wayfinding and Signage

Frequently Asked Questions about Wayfinding and Signage

1 | What is Wayfinding?

Wayfinding helps people navigate unfamiliar spaces confidently and efficiently. Good wayfinding reduces confusion, saves time, and improves overall experience, especially in complex environments like hospitals, campuses, and transport hubs. For project teams, it also lowers operational costs and reflects a well-organised, user-centred design.

At Studio Lucidus, we often hear similar questions from industry partners like architects and facility managers when they begin planning a wayfinding system.

This page is an attempt to answer the most common ones, helping you understand what wayfinding means, why it matters, and how a clear system supports better user experiences and project outcomes.

2 | What is Wayfinding in Architecture?

In architecture, wayfinding refers to how building layout, sightlines, and spatial logic guide people’s movement even before signs are added. Corridors, entrances, and visual anchors all play a part. A well-designed building supports intuitive navigation.

3 | What is Wayfinding Design?

Wayfinding design is the process of creating systems that help people find their way through visual, spatial, and informational cues. It combines strategy, graphic design, and human behaviour insights to make movement through space clear and seamless. At Studio Lucidus, we help project teams plan and audit spaces before the signs go up.

4 | What is Wayfinding Signage?

Wayfinding signage is the visible layer of a larger system, including directional signs, maps, and identifiers that communicate directions and destinations. They work best when supported by good planning, consistent naming, and clear architectural flow. Without that foundation, even well-designed signs can still confuse users.

5 | How does Wayfinding work?

Wayfinding works by combining visual cues (signs, maps, colours), spatial cues (layout, landmarks), and behavioural cues (how people naturally move or look for information). Together, they form a network of clues that help people orient themselves, make decisions, and reach their destination with minimal effort.

8 | What is the difference between Signage and Wayfinding?

Signage is the physical communication, the signs themselves that display information or directions. Wayfinding, technically, is the process or activity of determining one’s position and planning and following a route. It considers how people move, what decisions they make, and what information they need at each point. A well-planned wayfinding system includes signage, but signage alone does not guarantee an effective wayfinding experience. Studio Lucidus helps bridge that gap.

6 | Is "Wayfinding" one word?

Yes. Wayfinding is a single word used across architecture, design, and user experience fields. It was first coined by urban planner Kevin Lynch in The Image of the City (1960) and is now the standard term for navigation design. Wayfinding has been added into the Oxford dictionary in 2016 through campaigning done by Endpoint.

7 | Is "Signages" a word?

No, signage is a mass noun. It refers to a collective system of signs rather than individual pieces, for example, “the hospital’s signage system,” not “the hospital’s signages.”

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