Wayfinding signage design

Marked

Product Designer

B2B + B2C project

Overview

As the sole Product Designer at Marked, I led the end-to-end design of the colour-coded Marked wayfinding system for cycling and walking routes in Fort William.

This case study goes beyond metal signage design; it goes through the process of how I designed an intuitive and user-friendly wayfinding system for a small city that lacked connectivity. It involved designing colour-coded cycling and walking routes with a smart numbered navigation system. The final solution delivered an intuitive experience where users could confidently navigate using either the signage, the route planner app, or a combination of both.

Problem

In one of Scotland’s most heavily visited outdoor and regional destinations, Fort William struggles to connect its community with the scenic walking and cycling routes it has to offer.

The following are the main factors that impact this problem:

Challenges

Below are the main challenges I faced throughout this project, which directly impacted my design decisions.

Solution

An intuitive, user-friendly numbered & colour-coded wayfinding system for Fort William’s walking & cycling routes

Approach

Understanding users

User Journey Map

The following showcases the user experience of a tourist wanting to explore more of Fort William on a rental bike

I conducted several in

User needs

After conducting further user research I narrowed down the main user needs that our product had to try meet

Ideation

User Testing

Refining

Outcomes

Outdated Signage

Fort William had too many repeated signs in the same area with outdated information

Lack of Use

Existing signage didn’t make it clear where all the possible cycling and walking routes were

Seeking innovation

Previous wayfinding proposals lacked innovation & were simply out of the city’s budget