If a customer experience is a series of steps that are for someone to progress through, then wayfinding really is about the ease that they flow through those steps. Is it a frictionless glide through the steps, or like wading through treacle?
The first thing is that it’s easy to quickly associate wayfinding with physical signage. It really isn’t. It can be a live, shifting combination of physical elements, digital elements, and human elements.
In Project50 we think about wayfinding through 3 core questions that need to be answered through the eyes of a customer.
- Orientation: Where am I?
- Decision: What do I need to do next?
- Confidence: Have I got this right?
Orientation: Where am I?
It sounds simple. But I managed only yesterday to get off a train at a location and it was surprisingly unclear which station it actually was.
Well-designed environments make that orientation almost effortless – and the same principle applies digitally. Open a well-designed app and you should immediately understand where you are, what you’re looking at and where the important things live.
When people are stood at entrances pointing people towards different areas, it’s a can be a nice human touch but it can often speak to an underlying need.
The customer shouldn't have to decode the organisation before they can use it.
Decision: What do I need to do next?
This isn’t just about direction. It’s about choice. It’s about your range of offerings and how easy they are to navigate.
‘Select a main, a snack, and a drink’ is a really clear example.
Interestingly, the London Underground has almost eradicated this based on a promise. Rather than offering ticket types now, the deal is that you just tap to enter the gates, and tap out. They’ll figure out the best deal for you and charge you that at the end of the day. Isn’t that a wonderful example of just taking a huge chunk of discussion, debate, and anxiety out of a journey (both literally and metaphorically)?
This is where organisations can unintentionally create huge amounts of friction. Products accumulate. Terminology develops internally. Exceptions get added. And before long, a set of choices that makes perfect sense to the organisation becomes baffling to the person trying to make it.
Think about a menu design. It should be easy right? Starter, Main, Dessert. But as options grow and change – side dishes, sharing plates, add-ons. They’re all very sensible elements, but they add complexity and gradually the customer has another job to do before they can decide what to eat - they have to work out how the menu works.
Simplicity wins here. Whether it’s the options you offer, or the language you convey them in.
Confidence: Have I got this right?
This is an overlooked piece.
Did my order go through? Am I on the right platform for the train to Wrexham?
Uber are very good at this. Last night, I was watching Mahamed travelling towards us and knew exactly where he was, and when he was going to arrive. There’s no calling the taxi company and being told ‘they’re on the way’.
Imagine following a sign saying your destination is a ten-minute walk away. After five minutes, with no further signs, doubt starts creeping in. Did I miss a turn? Am I still going the right way?
Nothing has actually gone wrong. But the absence of reassurance creates friction anyway.
That’s the confidence part of wayfinding: anticipating where doubt might creep in and removing it before the customer has to ask.
This is the way
When you begin looking at experiences through this framework – you start seeing wayfinding everywhere.
It exists in signs, but also in product design, language, pricing, staff interactions, emails, apps, websites, ticketing, and processes.
And crucially, these things need to work together.
At Project50, we look at the experience as the customer actually encounters it: across products, places, people and digital – and find the moments where unnecessary friction gets in the way.
