Guidance were appointed to review the signage package for a purpose-built student accommodation scheme in Leeds. We delivered a wayfinding system with natural rhythm and visual poise—compliant, legible, and architecturally coherent. The system moved into manufacture and site installation without redesign, delay, or compromise.
Challenge
Burley Studios required a comprehensive internal wayfinding system for a high-traffic PBSA environment.
Burley Studios is a high-traffic PBSA scheme where wayfinding is fundamental to how the building is experienced. Movement through the site is constant and often time-pressured, so the internal signage needed to communicate clearly at a glance, support intuitive navigation, and remain consistent across multiple building zones. At the same time, the system needed to sit comfortably within the architectural language of the scheme, functioning as part of the environment rather than an applied layer.
Our role was to shape the wayfinding system so it would function reliably in daily use. As the signage proposals were developed, we assessed the system against core principles of legibility, hierarchy and accessibility. This revealed that the typographic approach relied too heavily on uppercase text, weakening hierarchy and reducing readability in busy areas. In parallel, the proposed use of metallic gold on white surfaces resulted in insufficient contrast, limiting visibility and falling short of accepted accessibility benchmarks.
The challenge was therefore to recalibrate the system before manufacture, refining typography, hierarchy and colour so the signage performed clearly and consistently for all users. The outcome needed to balance accessibility, intuitive navigation and architectural coherence, ensuring the wayfinding system worked as an integral part of the building rather than a decorative overlay.
Approach
We shaped a user-centred wayfinding system led by typographic clarity and accessibility.
The shift from uppercase to mixed-case typography improved recognition speed and reduced cognitive load, delivering what the final system achieved: natural rhythm and visual poise—legible, assured, and architecturally coherent. Once the accessibility implications were made explicit, the client immediately supported the change.
We reallocated the colour hierarchy: white text on pine green (RAL 6048) for primary navigation, achieving approximately 82% contrast well above the 70% threshold. We introduced a bespoke icon system to support non-verbal wayfinding and ensure intuitive navigation across the building.
Our delivery extended into a critical audit phase, where we corrected optical alignment issues and ensured directional text ranged correctly with arrow directions. We supplied a complete artwork pack to the manufacturer: production notes, typeface specifications, colour values, icon files, and print-ready templates.
Result
The system delivered a cohesive, accessible wayfinding solution that supports intuitive navigation while integrating cleanly into the building’s interior environment.
By resolving accessibility and hierarchy issues before manufacture, delivery risk was removed at a critical stage of the project. The wayfinding system progressed into manufacture and on-site installation without redesign, delay or compromise. A clearer, more elegant typographic system significantly improved legibility and hierarchy, resulting in signage that was calmer, more readable, and far more intuitive to use.
The outcome was a wayfinding system that combined robustness and compliance with clarity, ease and confidence in daily use.
Wayfinding that works as well as it looks.
Wayfinding that works as well as it looks.
