Whether it’s a town centre, a university campus or a brand new neighbourhood, wayfinding isn’t just about signage. It’s about shaping how people move through – and connect with – a place.
At Placemarque, we apply the same principles as UX designers do in digital spaces:
Start with the user.
Just like user-experience in technology focuses on creating a seamless digital journey, wayfinding should deliver seamless navigation through a place and make even the most complex places feel simple.
So we work to understand the user’s needs, their instincts and how they navigate the world. From there, we can help shape their experience of a place so that it feels intuitive, inclusive and human.
Wayfinding, done well, doesn’t just help people get from A to B. It helps create places where people want to be. And in doing so, they will stay longer, explore further and return.
Every place has potential. But it’s not just the buildings that make a place work; it’s the spaces between them. And it only comes to life through the people who use it.
That’s why we always start with a simple question: what’s it like to be here, for the people who use this place? Whether that’s residents, students, tourists, commuters or delivery drivers, wayfinding meets their needs at the right moment, rather than serve the vision of a designer.
User experience dovetails neatly with wider place branding objectives, too. Places have their own unique identity and are owned and shaped by the people who live and work there. Places elicit an emotional response, and users’ experience of a place is not linear, transactional, or singular; it is cumulative and organic. A user-centric understanding of place during the design process is how to ensure that places work for people, and flourish.
Designing for everyone.
This also means creating spaces that work for everyone – not just the confident few. Wayfinding solutions shouldn’t be designed according to the experience of the town hall planning team or the lead architect. They should respond to the experiences of the elderly, the parents with young children, the student who has just arrived, or the relaxed tourist with spare time on their hands.
These are the real people who will breathe life into the space for years to come.
Humans tend to take the shortest route – across grass, through gaps. These “desire lines” are the paths people naturally follow, whether they’re formalised or not.
And yet, so many public spaces are designed from the top down, based on abstract concepts rather than human behaviour.
Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester is a well-known example. Designed around high-concept ideas, it never quite gelled with how people actually wanted to use the space. Over time, users have carved out their own routes, trampling over the grassy areas and cutting corners.
The message is clear:
Listen to the user, or they’ll design it for you anyway.
Piccadilly Gardens is now going back to the drawing board, with a new masterplan for the public space in the making.
The more complex the place, the more important it is to get the experience right. The challenge is to make navigation feel easy, even if the space is anything but.
That’s why we start with wayfinding audits. We walk the space. We watch how people move. We talk to stakeholders. We map out the decision points and identify where things get confusing.
Our process is rooted in research; a bottom-up approach, grounded in how real people move.
This foundational understanding ensures that the wayfinding strategy keeps the user front and centre, informing key design drivers and what information is really needed (and what isn’t).
It’s not about layering in complexity. Often, the best design is simplification.
The easier a place is to move through, the more likely people are to explore it on foot or by bike. That encourages active travel and healthier lifestyles.
Focusing in on the user experience of a pedestrian or cyclist is key, and that will mean careful consideration of how cars are also interacting with a place. Our wayfinding strategies will help shape the logic of a place, establishing hierarchies and reinforcing pedestrian and cycle routes that feel safe, legible and inviting for everyone.
When you design with users in mind, the benefits go far beyond navigation. You create places that feel inclusive, accessible and vibrant. You build resilient places that can adapt, grow and still make sense decades from now.
Wayfinding plays a quiet but powerful role in this. It helps people feel grounded. It helps them connect.
And it always starts with a simple idea:
Put people first.
At Placemarque, we help clients across the UK create better places by becoming the voice of the user on the design team. If you’d like to explore how we can help bring your place to life, contact us today.
