Wayfinding project brief: five sets of information to gather before you tender

This brief is for the people commissioning the project. Gather the five sets of information below and the design team can get straight down to business at the first meeting, instead of spending two weeks chasing up drawings. You do not have to be working with Hand-Heart to use it; it applies to any wayfinding system project.

Why prepare this first

Wayfinding system design is not “designing a few signs”. It is engineering that starts from the logic of the space: first analyse circulation and zoning, decide where signs are needed and where they are not, and only then move on to the visual work. That means the first information the design team needs is about the space and the people in it, not the logo files. A medium-sized project takes 3–6 months on average from the first consultation to final acceptance; the more complete your preparation, the shorter the early stages.

1. The site

• Site plan and floor plans for every level (CAD or PDF, with a scale). For buildings under renovation, please supply the latest version and note its date.
• Escape route plans, plus the accessible vehicle and pedestrian routes. The signs have to match both; they cannot tell different stories.
• A space schedule: the official name of every space, how it is written in Chinese and in English, and whether it is open to the public. Until the names are settled, the signs cannot be made.
• The location of facilities such as AEDs, nursing rooms and gender-neutral toilets. Regulations or public service requirements mean these must be signposted.
• Site photos: one of each entrance, each stair and lift lobby, and each main junction. If there are existing signs, photograph them as well, including any that are damaged or covered with stickers.
• Building materials and colours: façade, main wall surfaces, flooring. The background colour of the signs has to be judged against the building. In one fair-faced concrete building, for example, the dark grey background was settled only after on-site tests against the surroundings.
• Lighting layout and lighting conditions: which areas are backlit by a glass curtain wall, which are open at night, and where the power supply for internally illuminated signs is. A sign that only looks good at noon is not good enough.

Why have this ready early: At the research building of National Kaohsiung Normal University (NKNU), all 15 sign types, A1 to H, were marked one by one on the floor plans for 1–3F and 4–7F to confirm their positions. Each floor also has its own plan showing the “you are here” position, exits and facilities, as well as an evacuation plan. That is why the floor plans need a scale and need to be the latest version. For the stair illustrations at Wanluan Township Kindergarten, both versions of the first draft were composited onto photos of the actual stairs to check how the artwork would look on the angled steps. The more complete the site photos, the earlier this kind of simulation can be done.

2. Users and circulation

• Who comes: visitors, staff, tenants, patients’ families, parents of students, travellers… list the main types.
• How they arrive: which entrance people use on foot, by metro, by bus, by car and by scooter, and roughly in what proportion.
• Where they are going: the shared destinations of each user group (car park, ticketing, check-in, toilets, meeting points, emergency exits).
• Special situations: pushing luggage, using a wheelchair, impaired vision, coming for the first time, being in a hurry. At the same corner, these people need different information.
• The places where people most often ask for directions today (reception or security staff know best, and asking them is the quickest way to find out).

Why have this ready early: At the National Palace Museum Southern Branch, the site-wide wayfinding treats vehicle, pedestrian and accessible routes separately. The signs on each route are read from a different distance, so one type size or one sign type cannot serve all three. During the information audit, the 80/20 rule was applied: the signs carry only the most important information, such as the main entrances and the car parks. Once the design was done, the user routes were simulated to check, sign by sign, that the sequence was unbroken and every arrow pointed the right way. Deciding what counts as most important, and how to simulate the routes, depends on knowing who comes, where they enter and where they are going.

3. Existing identity and standards

• The corporate identity system (CIS) manual: colour scheme, typefaces, supporting graphics, pictograms. Signage should extend the existing identity rather than start a second one.
• If there is no CIS: describe the current situation. The design team will suggest establishing the identity first and doing the signage afterwards; otherwise the signs become the only visual language in the space with nothing to base them on.
• Regulations or higher-level standards you have to follow: accessibility, fire safety, public sector identity rules, multilingual requirements.

Why have this ready early: The Hakka-language environmental graphics for Wanluan Township Kindergarten carry over the Hakka sister-and-brother characters and the piglet mascot from the Wanluan Township Office’s environmental graphics, and the title lettering also follows the typeface design of the township office version. When the original files of the existing identity reach the design team first, a new space can pick up the visual language that is already there.

4. Construction interfaces

• Who is responsible for fabrication and installation: the design team on a turnkey contract, a separate supplier appointed by the client, or the main contractor. This determines how the contract is split, so the sooner it is clear the better. Hand-Heart can take on planning and design only, design plus construction supervision, or a turnkey scope including fabrication and installation; the split of duties for all three is in section 6.
• Material and structural constraints: whether walls may be drilled, whether the ceiling can carry suspended elements, and whether outdoor elements need typhoon-resistant construction.
• Power and lighting: whether internally illuminated signs are needed and where the power points are.
• Schedule milestones: the opening date or the acceptance date. Fabrication and installation usually take 4–8 weeks; counting back from that date tells you the day the design has to be signed off.

Why have this ready early: At the National Palace Museum Southern Branch, the location, type and number of every sign, along with building services needs such as lighting and power, were surveyed during the audit stage, and design standards for the sign forms were set for each mounting method: freestanding, wall-mounted, projecting and suspended. Outdoor structures also need to be assessed in advance. After the severe Typhoon Danas in 2025, the signs on the museum grounds that had been blown over were inspected by a structural engineer, then rebuilt with larger bases and added diagonal bracing plates. At the NKNU research building, the limited budget meant using modular perforated metal panels as the base material, and only after repeated tests was a waterproof, durable waxed cord chosen to weave the graphics. The earlier the wall, ceiling, power and budget conditions are spelled out, the less the materials and structure have to be revisited.

5. Decisions and acceptance

• Who approves: who signs off the design proposal and how many levels of approval are needed. In practice a decision such as the background colour of the signs takes three steps: rank the options by on-site measurement → factor in aesthetics → have management approve.
• What to check at acceptance: we suggest including at least four items: legibility distance check (whether the character height meets the minimum given by the viewing distance formula; the general value is 1/202 of the viewing distance, doubled for people with impaired vision), 1:1 full-size comparison on site, physical prototype (checked in the actual material under the actual lighting), as-built report (installed position and content checked point by point). For large or public sites we also suggest adding: accessibility and multilingual information, escape route and emergency exit guidance, weathering and impact resistance of outdoor materials, and replaceable modules.
• Ongoing maintenance: who is responsible for updating content (floors change, departments are renamed) and whether replaceable modules are needed.

Why have this ready early: The design drawings for the NKNU research building use 17′ (arcminutes) as the optimum visual angle for text and work out the minimum character height from the viewing distance, with a separate calculation for the height needed by people with impaired vision. The sign templates were then taken on site and checked in position against the actual walls and ceilings. At the National Palace Museum Southern Branch, 1:1 samples were set out on site, and the actual prototype panels were checked against PANTONE swatches. The standards were handed over to the museum together with the shop drawings and a system schedule, as the basis for future additions and maintenance. When the acceptance criteria and the approvers are written down in advance, every one of these steps has someone to sign it off and a standard to check it against.

6. Division of responsibility and budget line items

A wayfinding project involves more parties than a print project: the owner, the architect or interior designer, the contractor and building services, the sign fabricator, and the design team. Setting out “who is responsible for what” in a table before tendering removes much of the finger-pointing at construction interfaces. The table below uses the three scopes Hand-Heart works with most often as an example; in practice the contract decides.

How to break the budget down

Public tender records show the total budget of one project, not a general unit price. A more reliable approach is to break the budget into line items and then estimate based on the number of sign locations, the materials, the number of languages, the lighting and the schedule:

1. Needs analysis and site survey
2. Circulation analysis and sign location planning
3. Design and standards (including legibility verification)
4. Shop drawings and material and structural specifications
5. Physical prototype
6. Fabrication
7. Installation
8. Construction supervision and as-built report
9. Maintenance and replaceable modules (we suggest a separate line)

Rolling the “design fee” and “sign fabrication” into one lump sum is the most common cause of later change orders and unclear responsibilities.

What the design team delivers (for comparison)

If a proposal contains no “sign location plan” and no “legibility verification”, it usually means the planning was skipped and the signs were simply made.

Who is this wayfinding project brief for?

Venues, schools and property developers preparing to tender a wayfinding system can use the situations below to decide which section to work on first.

• If your school is about to plan its wayfinding but has not yet established its brand identity, start with section 3, “Existing identity and standards”, and put establishing the identity on the agenda.
• If different contractors will design and install the signs on your development, you can use section 4, “Construction interfaces”, and the responsibility table in section 6 to set out the installation constraints and each party’s responsibilities first.
• If you handle procurement for a venue and need to set acceptance criteria for the signage, section 5, “Decisions and acceptance”, gives you a starting list: legibility distance check, 1:1 full-size comparison on site, physical prototype and as-built report.

Frequently asked questions

Can we start before everything is ready?
Yes. Floor plans and the user types are the minimum; the rest can be filled in during the needs analysis stage.

Is there really a formula for character height?
Yes. The optimum visual angle for text is 17 arcminutes, which works out at a minimum character height of about 1/202 of the viewing distance. At 10 metres, that is at least 4.9 centimetres; double it for people with impaired vision. The source and a reference table are on the wayfinding system design page.

Can we put this list straight into a tender document?
Yes, but adjust it to your site, your procurement rules and your construction interfaces. We particularly suggest writing in the four acceptance criteria from section 5. Together with the contract and the drawings, they let the person in charge judge whether the work at this stage passes, even without a design background.

Ready to talk it through? Send us your requirements and the person who handles wayfinding projects will reply within 2 working days.