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Effects of Signage and Floor Plan Configuration on Wayfinding Accuracy

Interior Environments Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Signage is commonly employed to enhance wayfinding efficiency, especially in buildings with complex floor plan configurations. This study examines the influence of floor plan complexity and several types of signage on wayfinding within a series of buildings on a university campus. The study used a 5 x 3 factorial experimental design. The first factor, complexity of floor plan configuration, is defined through five alternatives. The second factor, signage, has three conditions: no signage, textual signage, or graphic signage. The results show that as floor plan complexity increases, wayfinding performance decreases. Graphic signage produced the greatest rate of travel in all settings, but textual signage was the most effective in reducing wayfinding errors, such as wrong turns and backtracking. Overall, the addition of signage resulted in a 13% increase in rate of travel, a 50% decrease in wrong turns, and a 62% decrease in backtracking across the five settings. However, plan configuration was found to exert a significant influence regardless of signage, because the wayfinding performance of participants with access to signage in the most complex settings remained equivalent to, or significantly poorer than, those in the simplest settings with no signage.

Environment and Behavior, Vol. 23, No. 5, 553-574 (1991)
DOI: 10.1177/0013916591235002


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