Five Pitfalls to Avoid When Developing a Healthcare Wayfinding or Placemaking Project

Over the last five years, IDS has developed, planned, and fabricated many different interior and exterior healthcare projects, from clinic rollouts to large hospital campuses. Through our experience, we have learned a great deal about how mistakes in the process can impact a project’s success.

This article explains five wayfinding pitfalls to be aware of and how to avoid them… before they have a costly impact on your project.

Pitfall #1 :: Failing to Review and Acknowledge Best Practices

Healthcare stakeholder teams are made up of disparate stakeholders. Before any planning or design work is done, a review of best practices (which included legibility analysis, wayfinding methodologies and leading projects) is a must to ensure all people on the team will be on common ground throughout the project.

Pitfall #2 :: Failing to Respect and Pay for Review and Feedback

Stakeholder feedback takes up a large percentage of project time, yet it is usually not accounted for in the project’s schedule or in the overall fee. This can result in all parties cutting back on review time, detrimental to any project. Proper review is crucial to avoid mistakes and helps to ensure clarity in communication with the design and planning teams.

Pitfall #3 :: Failing to Prototype at Multiple Levels

Healthcare projects need multiple levels of visual feedback to be successful. This includes photo montage visualization, paper wayfinding tests, and formal physical prototypes. If these are not accounted for in the project the final result often fails to meet expectations.

Pitfall #4 :: Failing to Conduct a Final Walk-Through of Message Schedules

In addition to having a transparent message schedule, database time and attention should be allowed for multiple reviews in order to minimize mistakes.

Pitfall #5 :: Failing to Develop Final Guidelines and Ongoing Management Plan

Once the initial signage system is developed, inevitably, there will be future changes or expansion. Creating documentation with details, guidelines and management instructions is crucial for ongoing success of the project.

At IDS, we reinforce these practices with our clients which has resulted in project success for a number of large, high profile healthcare organizations and positive feedback from the client, their patients and hospital visitors.

We are always looking for opportunities to work with new healthcare organizations and would be delighted to discuss how we can help your teams avoid these pitfalls on your next wayfinding or placemaking project.

Connect with us for a consultation. Let’s discuss how we can help you avoid these common wayfinding mistakes and make your facility healthier and easier to navigate.