What is Creative Wayfinding and How Can It Help the Public?

Navigation is fundamental in our daily lives. This is especially true when visiting new cities and large businesses as it makes it easier to understand where you need to go. One way municipalities and businesses ensure easy navigation is through creative wayfinding. It’s an incredible resource that guides you to your desired destination. Many organizations are using wayfinding signage to highlight their unique identity. As a result, the signage acts as a functional piece of art that benefits tourists and citizens. 

At EG Structural, we’ve designed several creative wayfinding pieces, such as Mesa del Sol and Albuquerque Route 66 signs, to enrich the community experience. Learn how wayfinding can play a critical role in reaching your organization’s goals.

Creative Wayfinding Helps You Stand Out

We interact with wayfinding all the time. You’ll find them in grocery stores, retail shops, roadways, airports, and much more. The purpose of wayfinding is to get you from point A to point B as directly as possible. If the planning, design, and implementation are developed appropriately, users will be able to make an educated directional choice. However, this is not achieved without the expertise of a designer.

Moreover, there’s huge potential to create signage that informs, but it stands out. This not only creates a unique identity for your brand and community but also gets eyes on the sign. As part of our Mesa del Sol project, our goal was to effectively guide users to their destination with a complementing theme. That theme includes the surrounding natural plant life and the area’s modern architectural design. As a result, our creative wayfinding signage added another level of identity to the area. 

It is Signage That Offers a Helping Hand

Think about all the times you’ve taken a trip somewhere you’ve never been before. Remember how you might have missed that turn in Albuquerque or kept driving on that long stretch of road? The whole purpose of wayfinding is to help you avoid these situations.  Nightingale said it best: “The goal is not to herd people but to encourage successful exploration”.

There are so many destinations people can visit, with many possible routes they can use to get to them. A lot of people take wayfinding for granted when driving in a new area, but a lot goes into the signage. For instance, we had to follow strict guidelines set by the Department of Transportation to construct our Albuquerque Route 66 signs. We had to adhere to regulations such as:

• Use specific fonts and font sizes
• Use a specific size for our arrows
• Make the signs reflective so drivers can effectively see them at night
• And much more

While we faced these challenges during the design phase of the project, we were able to adapt. These constraints allowed us to design something that’s equally attractive as it is functional. As a result, we put a spotlight on the city’s historic stretch of Route 66 while creating helpful navigation signs for passersby. 

Creative Wayfinding Serves Small Communities

When we constructed the Mesa del Sol signage, we made sure it can be easily adapted to the community. We made it so the client could change the destinations on the signs in the event a business is no longer there.  We knew we had to create something to make it easier for our client to adapt their signage to new community additions. 

One of our goals with Mesa del Sol was to inform users of the businesses that are there. Wayfinding is a valuable tool for communities, as it highlights the businesses in the area. Moreover, they inspire people to explore and engage with the community.  We develop each of our signs to invoke a strong emotion and generate interest in the area. 

EG Structural Are Creative Professionals on a Mission

For over 25 years, EG Structural has been on a mission to create private commission work that evokes a response from community members. Whether we’re developing creative wayfinding designs or large-scale sculpture pieces, we always look for ways to shine a light on our clients’ identities. Contact us today to learn how we can highlight your unique background.