01
We look through the visitor's eyes
Not as an owner or an employee, but as someone arriving for the first time.
Approach
Why we spot what you no longer notice
An employee learns a building in a few days and then moves through it from memory — they stop using the wayfinding at all and never see its gaps. That is exactly the value of an outside perspective: it cannot be reproduced from inside the organisation.
What our approach is built on
−32%
fewer front-desk enquiries after wayfinding was introduced
02
We assess the journey, not the signs
The problem may sit in the route, the naming, the map or a decision point.
03
We measure legibility
Navindex turns wayfinding problems into a 0–100 score.
04
We give specific recommendations
We show what can be fixed quickly and what needs a systemic solution.
05
We design before anything is built
We prepare schemes, mock-ups, specifications and production documentation.
Adaptation makes the problems invisible
Someone who walks a route daily stops reading the signs: they move from memory and from landmarks a newcomer does not know. That makes surveying staff an unreliable way to assess wayfinding — they will honestly say everything is clear, and as far as they are concerned they are right.
For the same reason a self-run check finds less than an external one: even trying to look at it as a newcomer would, you automatically walk past the places where a newcomer would stop. An outside perspective finds those points within hours.
We analyse the journey, not a set of signs
A common request is «we need some signs». But a sign answers a question at one specific point, and a set of signs does not add up to a system on its own: without shared logic they duplicate each other in some places, stay silent in others, and call the same zone by different names.
We start from scenarios: who comes to the building and why, and what sequence of decisions they go through. Only then do we determine which message has to appear at which point.
The result can be measured before and after
Wayfinding is a rare field where everyone agrees that «something is wrong» but nobody can say how wrong. Because of that the task never makes it into the budget: there is nothing to defend it with.
We score the building using the Navindex method — a 0–100 scale across ten criteria, from the entrance to the way back out. The index makes buildings comparable and records the effect of changes. The second measurable indicator is the load on staff: across completed projects, front-desk enquiries drop by 32%.
Frequently asked questions
Your case studies are all healthcare — does that experience apply to our building?
The studio's completed projects are indeed from healthcare: the Kurgan polyclinics, Polyclinic No. 29 in Novosibirsk, the City Hospital No. 1 diagnostic centre. The method does not depend on the type of building — the visitor scenarios and the cost of a mistake change, the logic of the work does not. Medical buildings are also among the hardest: flows cross, the visitor is under stress, and mistakes are expensive.
Can we verify your assessment before the project starts?
Yes. Navindex produces a numeric score across ten criteria, and you can re-check it yourself — the method is published in our knowledge base. On top of that, every problem in the report is tied to a point on the plan and backed by a photograph: the conclusions are verified on site, not taken on trust.
What if we disagree with the audit's conclusions?
An audit is material for a decision, not a verdict. Contested points are handled separately: where opinions diverge and the cost of a mistake is high, we test the hypotheses with eye tracking — it shows visitor behaviour instrumentally rather than by whose opinion carries more weight.
Case studies
A single wayfinding standard for the Kurgan polyclinics
Ministry of Health of the Kurgan Region · 2018
OpenWayfinding across both wings of Polyclinic No. 29 in Novosibirsk
City Polyclinic No. 29 · 2018
OpenEntrance area and main hall of the City Hospital No. 1 diagnostic centre
City Clinical Hospital No. 1 · 2019
OpenWe will design the wayfinding for your building
Send us the floor plans and a short description of the building — we will come back with an estimate of scope and timescales. You can start with the audit: it forms the first stage of the project, and is billed separately if you decide to take it from there yourself.