The starting point.
A regional medical system in Dallas operating across a multi-building campus came to us with a wayfinding problem that had compounded over two decades of growth. New buildings had been added, departments had moved, parking patterns had shifted, and signage had been added one piece at a time — each addition slightly off from the visual language of the one before it. By 2023, the system showed every year of that incremental decision-making: inconsistent terminology, conflicting directional cues, signs left in place after the departments they pointed to had moved, and large gaps where new construction had outpaced wayfinding investment. The hospital's patient experience team was getting consistent feedback from patients arriving for procedures: confusion at the parking deck, missed turns inside the building, and visible frustration that translated into late arrivals and staff overhead.
A patient-journey site survey, not a sign audit.
Most wayfinding refreshes start with a sign audit — counting and cataloging what's installed. We started somewhere different: we walked the patient journey from the perspective of a first-time visitor. We entered from each parking deck. We followed the signs to the most-trafficked destinations: imaging, surgery pre-op, cardiology, women's services, the cafeteria, and the chapel. We documented every decision point — every fork in the corridor, every elevator bank, every choice between turning left or right. At each one, we noted whether the signage made the decision clear, ambiguous, or worse. The output of the survey wasn't a list of signs. It was a map of the patient journey with every confusion point flagged — and the patient experience team recognized every one of them from the feedback they'd been collecting.
A sign family designed for the system, not for individual signs.
The redesign started from the family up. We developed a single sign architecture: panel system, type system, color hierarchy, and pictogram set. Within that architecture, every sign in the campus would have a designated role — primary directional, secondary directional, destination identification, departmental identification, regulatory and informational. Terminology was normalized against what patients saw on appointment confirmations and patient-portal communications. The family used consistent abbreviations, consistent department names, and consistent visual hierarchy at every level. We worked with the patient experience and facilities teams through three rounds of review to refine the system before fabrication began.
ADA-compliant interior signage built for clinical environments.
Every interior identification sign in the new system was fabricated to the 2010 ADA Standards: tactile characters meeting size, finish, and contrast requirements; Grade 2 Braille; pictograms at compliant sizes; mounting heights and locations within the standard. Beyond compliance, we specified construction tuned for clinical environments — photopolymer substrate with subsurface-applied color, edge-sealed against daily wipe-down with hospital-grade disinfectants. ADA-compliant tactile and Braille components are integral to the substrate, not adhesive-applied, so they survive the cleaning protocols without delaminating.
Phased installation around 24/7 operations.
A hospital cannot pause for a sign install. We delivered the project in zone-based phases over twelve weeks, with each phase scheduled for nights and weekends to avoid peak operating periods. Within each zone, the install sequence was planned so that any corridor always had working wayfinding — either new or temporary — throughout the transition. Facility security and infection control coordinated with our crews on access, badging, and dust containment. Crews documented every sign installed with photographs, GPS coordinates, and mounting verification — both for the facility's records and for ADA compliance documentation.
What changed.
The new system is one of those projects where the success is most visible in what no longer happens. Staff aren't giving directions in the corridors. Patients aren't arriving late because they got lost on the way from the parking deck. The patient experience team's feedback channels stopped surfacing wayfinding complaints almost immediately. We delivered the project with a full set of as-built documentation: drawings, sign-location maps, materials specifications, and warranty records that the facilities team can hand to maintenance contractors for years to come. The signage doesn't look temporary or stitched-together. It looks like infrastructure, because that's what it is.