Orientation & Identity

to underline the room’s character, make routes visible and create
fixed way points.
Signage makes the functions of a place visible (or invisible)
Signage translates the functions and/or the contents of the architecture
visually and makes them understandable. This also includes
fading less important areas out to ensure a clear overview.
This organization and structuring is one of the key design activities
a signage expert engages in. It makes it easier for the user to grasp
the logic of the function and workings of a place. Important paths
and stations can be named and recognized this way.
Signage makes places easier to experience and gives them
added value
When you get to a foreign city you gather impressions, memorize
landmarks and other specific places. The more points you memorize
the stronger the mind maps – the personal maps in your imagination
– become. You create an image of the place; important
things become visible and unimportant things become invisible.
Profes sional on-site navigation aids help you link important points
quickly and make you able to discover and experience the city
independently in a structured manner.
Places that are clearly identifiable and offer good infrastructure
are more well-received among visitors. The Austrian Railroad
Company is focusing on contemporary architecture, building designations
and information design along with its core competence
as it seeks to re-position itself. The result is a visible image change
and improvement of the railroad’s image as a means of transportation
as well as the improvement of the stations’ image. Station
architecture has been expanded to include functions like shopping,
parking and offices. Signage plays a decisive role here: it visualizes
the character of the place and its offerings. This makes it possible
to experience these things.
Signage can save lives in an emergency
In a fire, the only goal is to reach the nearest exit. Poor escape route
signage was one of the reasons 17 people died in a large fire at the
Dusseldorf airport in 1996. Signage specialists don’t only supply
understandable designations and visual depictions for the respective
contexts. They make sure these elements are uniform. This
helps avoid varying designations and everybody knows which exit
is meant in an emergency – something the fire department wants
to work just as much as the person escaping the fire.
Good signage takes different orientation needs into account
People in a hospital are all in a state of emergency. An injured person
who has to find his way to the emergency ward doesn’t have the
time or the nerves to get detailed information. He has to find his
way there blindly – this is the kind of worst case a signage expert
has to start his work with. But the way to the physiotherapy room
can also become an odyssey for an elderly person or a patient
with impaired vision. The key lies in universal design that offers a
broad spectrum of solutions to help everyone, not just people with
impairments. It begins with contrasting, large lettering and continues
with intuitively understandable pictograms, the right choice
of words and multi-lingual signs. These things are also political
statements of openness and tolerance. Various cultural identities
among the users and the individual understanding of information
are constant challenges for the designer, who wants to offer all the
users the best possible orientation.
The projects and views of the designers in this book show
the many challenges that lie ahead in the uncharted territory of
signage. What they all have in common is that they go beyond the
limits of the various disciplines. Signage brings them together and
acts as an identity-defining force that uncovers new, surprising
perspectives.
Signage is economic and efficient
Well-planned way finding systems are based on the reduction of
information to the basics. This makes it easier to assimilate important
contents. A lower number of required information carriers and
the avoidance of redundancies help lower the amount of investment
needed. But low investment costs aren’t the only contribution
that leads to savings. Intelligent maintenance also leads to sustainable
low operating costs.