5 Ways to Improve Your University Wayfinding
Remember the first time you walked on your college campus? Flipping through pamphlets to locate your next class, seeking out signage to point you in the right direction – that first week on campus feels like you’re living in a giant maze! Fortunately, with today’s digital wayfinding solutions, giving students the resources they need to swiftly navigate their way around campus is easier than ever before.
Yet despite today's innovative digital signage technology, it’s still inevitable that students will feel the occasional stress of feeling lost or intimidated by their sprawling surroundings.
That’s why it’s important that every school has a chance to take a step back and reassess its university wayfinding system to ensure that it’s as accessible and inclusive as can be.
To help your school provide the best campus experience possible, here are five ways you can improve your university wayfinding.
1. Implement Inclusivity
A college campus features a wide variety of walks of life, with each student having their own distinct needs when it comes to navigation. Your university wayfinding system needs to be as inclusive as possible, which means incorporating several features and resources that make the user experience as accessible as possible.
This includes:
- Multiple language options
- Sufficient color contrast for readability
- Closed captioning and braille reading options
- Send-to-phone capability
- ADA-compliant kiosk stations and digital signage screens
- Mobile access for users to leverage audio on their personal device
Such features and more will ensure that you’re catering your university wayfinding system to all your students.
2. Incorporate Student Feedback
If your students are the ones utilizing your digital wayfinding technology every day, then it’s a good idea to get their input on how you can improve your wayfinding resources.
Try conducting monthly or bi-monthly interviews with randomly selected students to assess their opinions, experiences, and notes on your wayfinding system. This way, you can keep your ear to the floor about what’s proving successful with your wayfinding software and hardware, and what could potentially use an upgrade. Additionally, surveys can be incorporated into the Wayfinding user interface.
3. All-in-One CMS
Your Content Management System (CMS) is the key to ensuring that your digital wayfinding stations are providing up-to-date information and guidance to thousands of students campus wide.
This is why it’s so important to install an intuitive and easy-to-use content management system that makes it as simple as possible to instantly upload or edit wayfinding content. Your wayfinding CMS should allow you to publish content in seconds, from essentially anywhere with an internet connection.
By having a one-stop shop to manage all aspects of your wayfinding content, you can quickly provide instant notifications to all your students when they need it, such as class or event cancellations, safety and security alerts, or any other important announcements.
4. Smartphone Synchronization
Let’s face it: Almost every single one of your students is constantly on their phone. So why not cater your wayfinding technology to their smartphone dependence?
Investing in mobile application development for your university wayfinding will ensure that every student has exclusive access to campus mapping resources and gives you direct access to providing them with any important notifications or campus news. In addition to a mobile app. The ability for students to scan QR codes to access the digital interactive wayfinding from their mobile browser provides another level of convenience.
Plus, smartphone synchronization eliminates excuses for being late to class, right?
5. Having a Wayfinding Support Team
If any hardware, software, or content management questions or issues arise, it’s important to have a digital wayfinding support team at your side to provide you with timely response and resolution.
If your digital wayfinding provider is not as responsive as you would like to be to resolve any technical issues, then it’s definitely time to consider switching things up.
Custom University Wayfinding Solutions From Oppna Digital
Looking to upgrade your university wayfinding technology? At Oppna Digital, we have the team, services, and technologies to equip your campus with an all-encompassing digital wayfinding system!
Contact Oppna Digital today to schedule a consultation with our digital wayfinding specialists.