The Cost of Getting Lost

Finding the way through a building involves a series of decisions. Someone entering a hospital has to recognise where to go, choose a route and notice when they have reached the right place. When the building provides too little information, the visitor may stop a member of staff for help. The uncertainty becomes an interruption for both people.

Wayfinding is the study and design of that process. Kevin Lynch's work on how people understood cities gave it a useful vocabulary: routes, edges, districts, meeting points and landmarks help organise a place in the mind. Similar relationships can make a building more legible, meaning easier to understand and navigate.

Research by Jamshidi and colleagues on hospital staff gives ineffective wayfinding an operational consequence, including time spent giving directions. It makes a clear design case for examining journeys from the arrival point of someone unfamiliar with the plan.

Information needs to be available before the decision it supports. A sign just beyond a junction can arrive too late. Several identical corridors may give a visitor little means of checking their position. A recognisable turn, a visible destination or a well-placed landmark can help them continue with confidence. Following the route at walking pace reveals where those cues are needed and whether they can be seen.