Wayfinding for Seniors

Designers: Rick Hoobler, Hillary Carey, Ignacio Filippini, Jacey Stroback, and Lisa Glass of Carnegie Mellon University

Client: Presbyterian Senior Care

To create a signage system for a senior care facility that houses people in various stages of dementia, the students chose to un-institutionalize the space. The system wrapped around a central area known as Main Street, then named other floors after indigenous trees. To facilitate orientation for the residents, each floor has a consistent color and wall signs look like colonial street signs, with each resident having a nameplate with an "address."

"In order to understand the audience, the students immersed themselves in the sad and confusing reality of the elderly and those suffering from dementia. The outcome-a signage and navigation system that was developed for the elderly-focuses on utilizing familiar patterns and developing cues for easier memory recall. The results not only represent how effective proper design can be, but also how problem solving is best accomplished when insight into the root cause is truly understood." -Henry Kim, IDSA, Hill-Rom

Contact: Rick Hoobler,
614.885.3453
rick_hoobler@fitch.com