Oncology Center wayfinding system

Wayfinding system

for Oncology Center

The Republican Clinical Oncology Center (hereinafter RKOD) is located in the city of Ufa, the Republic of Bashkortostan. This is a large specialized medical institution of the scale of the Russian Federation. Qualified medical personnel, modern diagnostic and medical equipment are concentrated here. Patients come here not only from all regions of the republic, but also from neighboring regions of Russia.

We were entrusted to develop a visual navigation system for the territory of the dispensary, so that people do not get lost and easily find what they need.

cartography clinic Health information design map navigation Park typography vector wayfinding

The structure of the center is large and includes 6 treatment and diagnostic buildings and 9 service buildings. The area is open.

The main users of the territory are patients, and people who come to visit a friend or relative in the hospital. Many users are aged people. Due to the large occupied area, the territory is actively used by the townspeople, shortening their walking path.

When creating the navigation system, we relied on making the elements look simple, understandable, informative. So that information can be seen from afar, even with imperfect vision, and remember it. It can be difficult for people to remember information, especially when worried about health and life.

Elements of the navigation system follow the simple rectangular shapes of buildings and their facings. The display of the icons of the buildings in the form of a circle is taken from the navigation inside the buildings so that the user does not have dissonance due to the different design of information.

Each building is marked with a specific color and lettering. It is also indicated how to get from each building to the others.

Pointers with less information have also been developed. They help to navigate the confused space between buildings, where there are no patient entrances. You need to go through it space.

Backstage

The project was both simple and complex.

1) The paths of movement were found quickly. We indicated the movement to the buildings and exits from the territory. And for additional information, a map and a QR code were provided.

2) In internal navigation, the Latin letters A and B were used to designate two adjacent corps. Therefore, we designated the other corpuses with Latin letters also.

3) Of the style-forming constants, RKOD had a logo and internal navigation. They included rounded elements. We relied on them when choosing a shape and color scheme.

We designed, improving the visual design of the elements and the presentation of information with each iteration. But with each iteration and testing, completely new details emerged.

1) The PET-Technology Nuclear Medicine Center and the department of morbid anatomy were added to the navigation system. PET-Technology is not part of the RKOD, but many patients of the dispensary use the services of the Center without separating it from the RKOD.

2) During testing, it turned out that most patients read the outline of the Latin letters A, B, E, C as Cyrillic [A], [V], [E], [S]. This breaks the correspondence between the order of letters in the alphabet and the arrangement of the corpuses. Old patients who came from the village could not read the letters F and D at all. They speak their native Bashkir language. They speak Russian, but do not speak English at all. We have replaced the letters with Cyrillic A, Б, В, Г, Д, Е (the letters are in the correct alphabetical order).

3) The initially selected rounded forms were discordant with the medium. We decided to simplify the look by bringing it closer to the lines of the buildings.