How Wayfinding Signage Should Look in 2024 [Updated]

The purpose of wayfinding signs is to aid in navigating a building, campus, or other facilities. It will show you the way and verify that you are progressing along the path you have set. Such directional signage is particularly useful for:

• Commercial and healthcare establishments, hospitals
• Places of learning and banking
• Tourist destinations
• Restaurants and bars
• Shopping centers, auto lots, and malls.

While not technically promotional, navigational signage still helps to provide a professional image for the business. Customers are more likely to feel at ease in your establishment if they can navigate their way easily. As a result of their success, individuals will feel more confident in their abilities and less dependent on others for help.

What should wayfinding signage look like come 2024?

Wayfinding signage: Identification

Identification signs are the kind of navigational signage that is most often seen. Your guests will be able to recognize that they have arrived at their intended location inside your establishment once they see this kind of sign.

The following are some examples of this kind of signage that should be more frequent in 2023:

• Plaques affixed to doors that identify the occupants of the workplace;
• Displays that identify the department that one is in, such as those for customer service or accounting;
• Markers that direct pedestrians to a certain landmark, such as historical markers or plaques.

It is also possible for identification signs to perform the function of a known landmark. One example of this would be a sign that prominently displays your company's name and emblem and is affixed to the wall behind the reception desk of the business that you are visiting.

These kinds of signage are useful, particularly if you are in a huge building where several different companies or groups share the same facility. To be comprehended in a few seconds, identification indicators should be as clear and uncomplicated as possible.

Wayfinding signage: Informational

Informational signage is comparable to identifying signs; however, it tends to be more generic and will apply to the whole structure in question. It will help if you put up instructional signs where many people can view them, such as the lobby, waiting rooms, or entrances to your establishment.

When considering the kinds of instructional signs that might be essential for your company in 2023, consider the types of questions customers could have and ensure that your signage provides straight answers to those queries. For instance, the informational and directional signs that you use should show you the following:

• The location of the restrooms
• Your business's opening and closing times
• The street and number of your building
• Spots of the stairwells and lifts in the building
• If you have a free WIFI connection
• Where the dining hall and other eating spaces are located.

On the informative signs you create, you should be sure to utilize symbols and wording that are simple and straightforwardly comprehended by everyone at a look.

Wayfinding signage: Regulatory

The regulation signs are the last kind of wayfinding signage that you need to include in your design in 2024. The safety of your guests and considerations about liability are at the forefront of regulatory sign design.

This kind of signage will establish limits for your guests and make it clear to them what is acceptable, where they can go, and where they are not permitted to go. You need to ensure that your regulation signs are visible from a distance, crystal clear, and to the point.

The following is a list of some types of regulation signs that you could choose to display in your facility:

• Smoking is not permitted
• Caution! High Voltage!
• Rules and regulations for the required amount of physical distance
• Only staff members
• There is no access beyond this point
• Do not enter.

Wayfinding signage: Directional

Your clients or guests will have an easier time finding their way to the destination of their choice with the assistance of directional wayfinding signs. Your signage must be precise enough and positioned to give the impression that an unseen tour guide is taking you to your destination. It may be accomplished by ensuring that it is sufficiently apparent.

They have to be put in places where there needs to be a clear traffic flow, such as when you get to a portion of your building where there are several ways to go in any given direction.

The following are examples of useful types of directional signs that your premises should be embracing as soon as possible:

• Signs affixed to the walls at each intersection direct you in which direction you should go
• A directory of the firm that specifies on which floor each employee's office is located
• Markers of physical distance or separation, as well as different colored lines drawn on the ground for you to follow.

Suggestions for making your signage more effective

Keep things simple

The wayfinding signs you use should be easy to read and comprehend. It should take a maximum of a few seconds to read a display for direction finding and understanding what it says and implies.

Coordinate it

The layout of all of your directional signs needs to be coordinated with one another. The following are some illustrations of what this means:

• You should be able to determine where you are based on the identification signage, and then you can use the directional signage to go where you want to go
• Your directional signage needs to make it simple for you to go to where you need to go, and once you are there, your identification signage should let you know that you have arrived at your destination
• While observing the directional signs, your regulatory signs must prohibit you from entering restricted zones where you are not permitted to go
• While you are within the facility, your behavior will be directed by the signs that provide information and those that provide regulations.

Modern wayfinding signage is increasingly digital and interactive as technology advances. Digital signs can show maps, distances, and directions and provide extra information such as local attractions, opening times, and weather. They use touchscreen technology, allowing users to interact with the content. It can be more engaging than traditional static signs and enable users to quickly access the specific information they need.

The wayfinding digital signage of the future will be more interactive and intuitive than ever, it could be anything from quick directions to local attractions to a report on the latest events in the area.  Digital signage is set to become an integral part of the urban landscape, helping people quickly and easily find their way around.