To read the entire article, click on “Demonstrating Return on Investment” on the cover page

Excerpts:

“Early on in the project, even before we retained Corbin to assist in our wayfinding initiative, we tried hard to find data, measures, metrics that we could use to validate our business plan. We had to come to terms with the fact that we couldn’t put a value on the patient experience, or our success in managing the degree of change we anticipated. We had to ask ourselves ‘Is it the right thing to do conceptually? Is it going to benefit our patients?’”

“We knew that we should be concerned with the amount of staff time spent giving directions, but maybe we weren’t going to find a piece of data to validate this. Instead, we saw the potential improvements to the patient experience as an important part of our outward value proposition, and our internal core values. We then proceeded with managing costs and maximizing the value of the outcomes as the design process rolled out.”

Gundersen Lutheran's wayfinding system includes an interactive physician directory and static directories for wayfinding support

Once the team and tools were in place, a system of wayfinding signage could be designed and implemented. Rather than using old technology consisting of vinyl sign materials and considerable labor costs, Corbin designed a new system of interior signage using printable inserts. With this in-house capability, Gundersen Lutheran has seen significant improvements since the initial installation: Houser estimates that at least 50% of the original signage inserts have been redone at least 2 or 3 times. “If we hadn’t had that ability, we would have paid for new signage 2, 3 or 4 times over.”

Theresa Besse, an interior designer, adds: “The biggest time and money saver has been the methodology that was implemented for updates to signage. Prior to this new program launch, we used to try every way imaginable, hoping to stumble across a solution. Today, when a signage change is brought to our attention, we have the necessary tools to help identify weak points in communication, and make improvements to the systems that support communication rather than attempting to reinvent the program.”

“I can tell you that our customer service department finds the results of your work PHENOMENAL” Kari Houser, Director of Construction and Facility Planning, Gundersen Lutheran

Directional signage works in tandem with visual landmarks on patient floors

To quantify the return on the investment from an interior signage standpoint, supporting the old program using their internal sign shop was costing in excess of $55,000 annually for materials alone. In 2009, the first year the program was fully implemented, materials costs dropped to just over $15,000. But materials costs are not the only indicator of success; Houser says that “the methodology put in place is delivering a qualitative value far in excess of what we ever spent on signage.”

The success of the wayfinding program has had broad implications throughout the organization. Armed with the proper knowledge and tools, the Wayfinding Team works each day to build awareness of the importance of multiple communications to support the patient experience.

With all of the changes that Gundersen Lutheran has been making, it’s difficult to quantify the specific benefits of the wayfinding system. But the success of this program is due to the broad approach that the team took to the entire range of wayfinding communications, and the individual responsibility of people within the organization to build on the patient experience. The Gundersen Lutheran team has built a flexible infrastructure to manage the intricacies of massive change while always staying true to their mission and values. And that, for them, is priceless.

Overview: Regional Wayfinding
What is wayfinding? We define it simply as “direction for people in motion.” It’s a system of designed communications that use consistent terminology to direct visitors to the diversity of a region’s destinations, events and attractions. As a reflection of regional culture, a wayfinding system becomes a system of recognizable tools that fit within the context of local language, streetscapes and activities. A wayfinding program directs a visitor’s experience; it does not define it. We leave that job to each unique community.

Why develop a project like this?
As one of our clients said, “Wayfinding is about economic development. Period.” Regions are realizing that a shared approach to attracting business, resident and tourist dollars will be a net benefit. Overcoming competitive obstacles is always a difficult part of the process, since towns and destinations may have been competing for the same tourist dollars, sometimes for generations. It is important to shift thinking to the old adage that “a rising tide lifts all boats”: if more visitors are drawn to the region, everyone will profit. This can be a significant cultural hurdle, one that must be overcome by all stakeholders at the beginning of the process.
A consolidated approach to wayfinding unifies a region both verbally and visually, and gives visitors the tools they need to navigate successfully. Most importantly, the information provided to a visitor can make them feel like an “insider:” if they feel competent and confident, they are able to discover unique events, attractions and destinations on their own. When they do this, they’re much more likely to share this positive experience with family, friends, colleagues, neighbors. At the same time, wayfinding can build awareness among residents to all that their region has to offer – tools used in wayfinding programs are not only intended for visitors from far away! In most instances, local and regional visitors (within 30-50 miles) are the primary audiences for wayfinding.
What does a wayfinding system include?
It’s important to note that wayfinding is a communication challenge as much as it is a signage task. Certainly signage plays a significant role, but there are many potential ways to reach a visitor prior to their arrival with relevant, reassuring messages. Verbally, each of these must be speaking in the same way. Visually, use of a similar graphic approach to mapping and the presentation of information will build familiarity with the program and make wayfinding tools recognizable, whether online, in a mobile device or on a sign.
Who typically runs the project?
In our experience, a regional Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), a consortium of Chambers of Commerce or other economic development agencies are part of the process. A single project champion is critical: one that is well connected within the region and can move the process forward, both politically and financially. While an outside firm can help organize and manage the process of design and implementation, there is no substitute for a strong internal advocate.
Where does funding typically originate?
For most regional wayfinding programs, the analysis and design phases are funded by a single organization that helps shepherd the process and provides crucial review and approvals. The true creativity begins as the project moves into implementation phases: paying for a wayfinding system rollout can be complex and expensive. From detailed pay-to-play formulas to Department of Transportation grants, tax-funded approaches and other ideas, we’ve helped our clients discover ways to fund programs that make the design a reality.
What steps are required?

1. Engage in research to define the region: What is it? What does it include? What makes it unique from other regions? Why should people come?
2. Establish an internal project champion to guide the process (person or organization)
3. Align communities around common goals: outreach, awareness building
4. Design a unifying brand, shared language: common terminology
5. Solicit support from a variety of constituents, and continually communicate progress to all stakeholders and the general public. Involve regulatory agencies at the outset.
6. Use existing assets, such as DOT signage, for consistency and savings
7. Design flexible, sustainable systems: signage, print and electronic
8. Throughout the process, design and build an equitable funding mechanism

Anticipated outcomes

1. One consistent brand for the region, within which all communities, events and destinations communicate their unique attributes
2. An intuitive set of tools for wayfinding, providing connections within and between communities and destinations
3. Improved competitive position relative to other regions
4. Increased confidence among visitors and regional residents who explore, discover and tell stories about their experiences.
5. Deeper loyalty among visitors and an increase in return visits
6. Increased “cross-pollination” among communities, events, destinations
7. Better tools for economic development

Kathy Long-Holland presents the discussion topics

I had invited Kathy Long Holland, a management consultant from Portland, OR to develop a “fast break” discussion with five topics relevant to today’s business leaders. She introduced them briefly to the audience, then we assigned topics to each table for further debate.

“The future is already here … it’s just not evenly distributed.”
William Gibson

Most of the people in the room are competitors. But in this open, collaborative environment, we quickly found common ground as these topics signal larger trends in society. For many of us, the conversation was as much about designing a life as it was about design firm management. I’ve collected a few key thoughts from each conversation:

Topic One: Economic Turmoil
Often event driven, business leaders have a choice: adapt to changing conditions or fail. We watch the economy closely for signs, and make sure we’re prepared to take advantage of the entrepreneurial opportunities that arise.

Designers are being pulled in two directions:

• The idea, the concept, the “trusted advisor” consultative service
• Commoditized design – value in production, lower prices

One positive outcome of economic turmoil is the ability to restructure, rethink assumptions. For our firms:

• Consider virtual teaming to bring in a variety of skill sets to solve a given problem. You’ll have lower overhead, and increased opportunity to interact and learn from other disciplines.
• Can you offer new services to an underserved market? Can you expand services to your existing clients by forging partnerships with other firms?

For our clients:

• Consider reducing the project fee for regular payments
• Renegotiate existing contracts to benefit your clients, providing more immediate value
• Consider long-term system maintenance contracts for your projects (think of it as an owner’s manual).
• Research and offer creative financing alternatives to mitigate funding-based project delays.

Members of the Principals and Partners group discuss Economic Turmoil and offer advice.

Topic Two: 65+
This age group owns the economic wealth, and has the means to demand more from us as designers. The challenge is to integrate intuitive interfaces and seamless content across a variety of media.

• Design must be simplified, legible, and intuitive. Many 65+ are clamoring for technology that is less complex, but does more to suit their needs.
• Increased demand for resort-style living, with walkable amenities such as medical facilities and businesses that cater to the elderly on site, connect them to transit.
• Continuing education is a priority: Museums, history – a desire to reflect, learn, experience.
• Reach out to that “audience of one” with targeted communications, especially with regard to wayfinding tools.

Topic Three: Devolution
Social Media has devolved quickly, to the point where no one believes anything anymore. For our companies and our clients, what is the integrity of the message? What does one do to protect both personal and corporate security online?

Should we be forming “anti-social networks” favoring instead a return to old-fashioned relationship building?

• Social media is predominantly market/buyer oriented. Face to face always trumps virtual contact.
• Even though you may “feel” in tune and connected, is social media justifiable?
• Third-party endorsements validate Internet messages: it’s much better for a client or colleague to recommend you via LinkedIn than for you to spout how good you are on Twitter.
• Due to technical glitches, such as incorrect messages in digital and static tools, no one believes anything anymore.
• There is no security or privacy anymore online.

Topic Four: Throw Away
There is an inherent conflict between consumption-driven economies and ecosystem limitations. As designers, we have a responsibility, both to our clients and the environment, to design intelligent systems that inform and direct in a sustainable way.

For our firms:

• Look at your office space requirements, staffing models. Do what you can to reduce your footprint and be more efficient.
• Staffers working from home use less power.
• Build sustainable products, materials into your design process, office operations.
• Build sustainable policies into your culture: four day, 10 hour work week
• Purchase transit passes rather than paying for parking

For our clients:

• Creating sustainable design solutions needs to be more than just fashionable; it needs to be a mandate.
• Use new technologies to save on travel
• Rely on digital systems to replace unfriendly, material-heavy design outcomes: exhibits, environments
• Be aware of your consumption, downstream effects of products that will eventually end up in landfills

What will fuel our future consumption, and at what cost to the environment? This is a design challenge, not a political one.

Mark VanderKlipp addresses peers at the Principals and Partners Luncheon

Topic Five: RIGHT NOW
Everyone wants information immediately. In a service business, you need to master both the message and the technology to reach your audiences clearly in an increasingly noisy world.

People create “false lives” around informational immediacy; thinking that they have to be plugged in at all times. We need to pull back and see the big picture without being distracted by information overload.

• Work is always due “now;” step back and analyze. What’s necessary? Is the client asking for real results or do they just want information quickly?
• Framing the project: ask “why” before asking “how.”
• Maintaining quality in the ‘right now’ is the most challenging part. Are we working so fast that we lose sight of project objectives?
• Know who you are, what you stand for, why you’re relevant to clients so you can respond to the “right now” in appropriate ways.
• There will never be enough time. Carve time out of your life to build the firm you want to be in – know your brand and own it!

Corbin Design and its partner firm, Avenue ISR generated this report, soon to be released.

A recent article in the Kansas City Star illustrates a project that Corbin Design directed for Hablamos Juntos. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we were engaged by the SEGD and Hablamos Juntos for a research and design recommendations process. We led the project in partnership with Avenue ISR to develop baseline research around how people with limited English proficiency (LEP) access health care, whether they speak another language or have physical limitations. In some cases, the patients in the test facilities were from cultures unfamiliar with western medical practices – definitely a challenge to reach and direct such diverse audiences!

The objective of this process is to develop a standardized set of universally recognized symbols to describe medical procedures common throughout the majority of healthcare institutions. The difficulty, of course, is employing imagery that is intuitive to a broad spectrum of hospital patients, staff and visitors. Our task was to design standards for applying these symbols to wayfinding signage, then test their effectiveness for the audiences in question.

The article does a great job of describing the process that Children’s Mercy is currently rolling out:

Children’s Mercy Hospital is installing new signs to make the complex easier to navigate

A quick summary of our research results:

• 92% of all subjects agreed that they could easily find their destinations using the symbols based wayfinding system
• People from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds (from English and Spanish to Somali and Khmer) were able to effectively use the symbols to navigate
• Low literacy populations navigated the hospital more efficiently as well
• Even for those with excellent English reading and comprehension, the symbol system served as an effective support to finding destinations.

Link to the article