Design
The Surprisingly Complex Art of Urban Wayfinding
Why some signs help you get where you're going while others get you lost.
Atlanta is no easy city for outsiders to navigate. It has seemingly three downtowns, plus three major interstates slicing through the core of the place, plus infinite maddeningly intertwined Peachtree streets. Los Angeles has neither an obvious street grid nor a comprehensive transit system that spans the entire city. Downtown Seattle actually has something like five street grids, all tilting on a slightly different axis. Washington, D.C., has those diagonal boulevards that befuddle tourists. And then there’s Venice – don’t even get visitors started on Venice.
In a word, these are all cities that could use some wayfinding.