Information design

Member lesson

Wayfinding and signage systems

Lesson 8 of 12 in Information design.

Lesson

Wayfinding is designing for somebody who is lost, in a hurry, carrying something, and possibly reading a second language. Every assumption a designer makes in a calm studio is wrong under those conditions.

the systemshopfrontall of itphonethe mark alonea vanreadable at speeda formalmost nonedesign the smallest one first and the rest survive
One system reaching a shopfront, a phone, a van and a form, each needing a different amount of it.
An ink drawing of a station corridor splitting into stairs and a passage, with a hanging arrow sign at the fork and a traveller with a suitcase looking up at it.
A station sign hung exactly where the traveller has to choose.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Helping somebody know where they are and how to get where they are going.”

    • Relationship
    • Plain language
    • Diverging palette
    • Wayfinding
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Anywhere a person must choose. Where signs belong, and nowhere else.”

    • Dashboard
    • Projection
    • Pictogram
    • Decision point
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Showing only what is needed at this point, not the whole system.”

    • Glanceable
    • Mercator
    • Comprehension
    • Progressive disclosure

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