Alfred Hospital

A new direction

Victoria’s Alfred Hospital spans one of the largest health campuses in Australia. Envelope’s wayfinding and directional signage prototype assists patients and their visitors to navigate more efficiently while also improving the visual amenity of this busy hospital.

Community & public
  • Wayfinding
Cutting through the noise…

During its long history of providing healthcare services to Victorians, The Alfred had implemented a number of different signage systems across its enormous Prahran campus. Envelope conducted detailed analysis of patient and visitor movements to inform the brief to develop a new wayfinding and signage prototype.

Addressing an additional aspect of the brief — to improve the visual amenity of these environments — super graphics are applied in bold colours taken from The Alfred’s existing corporate identity. Ward names set in a friendly rounded typeface replace acronyms familiar to staff but foreign to patients and visitors.

Overlooked for many years, an existing compass installed on the floor of the test environment, informed Envelope’s strategy to reintroduce a north, south, east and west navigation system.

Envelope’s research also demonstrated that stairs — originally designed as an escape route — were preferred by staff over elevators for movements between levels. These dark stairwells are improved with new lighting and wall-to-wall imagery of healthy exercise activities to create a visually positive journey.

Find your way…

Envelope’s solution for Alfred Health helped its team to see new possibilities in wayfinding signage — for visitors and staff alike. How could a new wayfinding strategy help your organisation welcome a new direction?

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