Wayfinding Signs: Office and Warehouse Planning Guide

How Do You Map Office and Warehouse Routes?

Walk the building as a first time visitor and write down every spot where you would hesitate. Each hesitation point needs a sign, and each destination needs a name that matches the signs leading to it.

1. List the destinations visitors, drivers and new staff look for: reception, restrooms, conference rooms, suites, shipping, receiving, break room, exits.
2. Walk each route from the entrance and mark every turn, stairway, elevator and fork.
3. Name each place once. Pick one word per destination and use it everywhere.
4. Assign a sign type to each mark: identification, directional, informational or regulatory.
5. Measure the wall, door or floor space at each mark and choose the size.

A small distribution company, Harbor Point Supply, might end up with an acrylic sign at reception, PVC arrows in two hallways, aluminum signs on the dock doors, and a row of floor arrows from the side door to the will call counter.

What Types of Wayfinding Signs Does a Facility Need?

Most buildings need four kinds of signs, and each one answers a different question. The table matches each type to a material and a starting price.

Regulatory signs, such as exit signs and tactile room signs, follow codes and are covered below.

Which Materials Work for Wayfinding Signs?

Use clear acrylic where the sign represents the business, PVC or ACM where the sign mainly gives directions, aluminum for warehouse doors and outdoor routes, and floor graphics where walls are far away or crowded.

Clear acrylic is 1/4 inch thick with a UV print, made for offices, lobbies, reception desks and suites, and it can mount off the wall on chrome standoffs. It is the sign a visitor sees first, so it carries the logo and the room name. PVC is 1/8 inch, light and water resistant, and it is built for long term indoor signs, which makes it a practical choice for a dozen hallway arrows. ACM is two aluminum skins on a solid core, rigid and flat, for larger directories. Aluminum will not rust and carries a 5+ year outdoor durability guarantee, so it handles the dock door and the parking lot.

Floor graphics are UL certified anti-slip vinyl for indoor floors, rated for high traffic areas. They put arrows where people already look on a busy warehouse or retail floor.

How Do You Make Directions Easy to Read?

Put the arrow first, use one destination per line, and keep the letters large enough for the walking distance. A visitor reads a directional sign while moving, so the arrow and the word have to land in a glance.

• Arrow on the side it points to. Left arrows go left of the word, right arrows to the right.
• Up to four destinations per sign. More than that and people stop to read.
• High contrast. Dark letters on a light field or light letters on a dark field.
• Letter size. A useful rule is one inch of capital letter height for every 10 feet of reading distance.
• Same order everywhere. If Reception is listed first in the lobby, list it first in the hallway.

Where Should Wayfinding Signs Go?

Place a sign just before each decision, not at it. A visitor needs to read the arrow a few steps before the corner, so a directional sign belongs on the wall facing them as they approach the turn, and a floor arrow belongs a few feet ahead of the fork.

Hang wall signs at a consistent height through the whole building so eyes learn where to look. Put identification signs on the latch side of the door, on the wall, where they stay visible when the door is open. In a warehouse, repeat the dock sign on the outside wall and the inside of the bay, because drivers and staff approach from opposite sides.

Lobbies need one directory where the routes split, listing every destination in the same words the hallway signs use. If a floor or suite changes often, choose a material that is easy to reprint at the same size, and keep the layout file so the replacement matches.

How Can Wall Graphics Help People Find Their Way?

Large wall graphics turn a whole zone into a landmark. A department name in tall letters at the end of a long corridor, a color band that runs the length of one wing, or a big number on each warehouse aisle tells people where they are from far away, before any small sign is readable.

Our wall graphics are printed on a removable low tack fabric that applies to painted walls and smooth indoor surfaces and comes off without damage, which suits leased space. An 18 x 24 inch wall graphic starts at $74.99 and is made in 48 hours. Color code each zone, then repeat that color on the room signs and floor arrows in the same zone, so the color itself becomes a direction.

What Accessibility and Safety Checks Come Before Printing?

Check which signs are required by code before you design the rest. Signs that identify permanent rooms and spaces fall under the ADA Standards for Accessible Design, which call for raised characters, Braille, contrast and set mounting heights. Exit and emergency signs follow your fire code. Warehouse hazard signs follow OSHA where it applies.

Our printed signs do not include raised characters or Braille, so use them for directional, informational and branded identification signs, and confirm tactile room signs and exit signs with your code official or fire marshal. Floor graphics are anti-slip for indoor use; forklift lanes and other safety markings follow your own safety program.

How Do You Audit a Wayfinding System Before Ordering?

Lay out the plan on a floor drawing and walk it once more with the sign list in hand. Read each sign as if you had never been in the building, and check that every arrow leads to a sign with the matching word.

Keep a sign schedule with one row per sign: location, type, wording, size, material, mounting and quantity. It becomes the order list now and the reorder list later, when a suite changes tenants or a department moves.

How Do You Order Office and Warehouse Wayfinding Signs?

Order each material from its own product page: acrylic signs for rooms and lobbies, PVC signs for hallway arrows, floor graphics for aisles, and aluminum signs for doors and docks. Send your files, approve each free digital proof, and production starts.

Acrylic, PVC, ACM and aluminum are made in 3 business days after approval, floor graphics in 48 hours, and every product ships by tracked ground service for a flat $10 per product. For lobby signs in more depth, read acrylic signs for lobbies and offices.