Bilingual English and French wayfinding signage for a community health centre

Rivière-Nord moved into a converted office building two years ago. It serves a mixed English- and French-speaking community, and many older visitors. Reception staff say they answer about 300 "where is…?" questions a day, and clinics report that 1 in 12 patients arrives more than 10 minutes late because they got lost. The current signs are laminated A4 printouts in English, with French added in smaller type underneath, taped at different heights.

The operations manager has budget for a proper sign system and wants a design that a local sign shop can produce. Her brief: - English and French with equal weight, following the centre's bilingual policy; - accessible to visitors with low vision, using wheelchairs or who cannot read either language well; - a sign family covering the building directory, directional signs, clinic identification, room numbers, washrooms and lifts, and evacuation information; - clear rules on sizes, mounting heights, colours, materials and tactile elements, with reference to the Ontario Building Code and the CSA B651 accessible design standard where relevant; - a numbering and naming scheme that makes sense on all three floors.

You do not have access to this building, so you will choose a real public building you can walk through freely, such as a library, a college building or a community centre. Map it as if it were Rivière-Nord and observe at least 6 people finding their way (without following them closely or recording faces).

Done looks like observation notes, a floor-plan map with decision points, a naming and numbering scheme, a sign family with drawings and specifications, a sign location plan, a paper-prototype test with 5 people and a production specification for the sign shop.