Exploring the Art of Wayfinding

Emily Badger explores the art of environmental graphic design, or wayfinding, and what it takes to strike the right balance between intuitive navigation and individual discovery.

1 minute read

February 1, 2012, 11:00 AM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj

Badger makes a distinction between intuitive older European cities and complex contemporary cities that require guidance to navigate, and the often subconscious ways in which wayfinding should operate on the latter.

"Architectural signage and wayfinding isn't about building a nicely designed sign," says Sue Labouvie, one such expert whom we tapped to explain the science of helping us find our way in the city. "It's about the information content and the analysis of the space or place that you're trying to move people through, and coming up with a strategy of how you make this big complex thing simple and understandable to the user."

FULL STORY: The Surprisingly Complex Art of Urban Wayfinding

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 in The Atlantic Cities

Infrastructure United States Wayfinding environmental graphic design

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