Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Overview
For more than 150 years, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) has
been one of the world's leading children's hospitals, offering the highest levels of
medical care. Over that time the hospital has grown to encompass many buildings
across one central London site, all of which make it very difficult for visitors, patients
and staffto find their way around. Due to a major redevelopment program that took
place in 2012, GOSH felt it was the perfect opportunity to review their wayfinding
and signage strategy.
GOSH approached Landor back in 2008, and a small team volunteered to work on the
project. Landor's office was then located nearby, so the designers were able to get on-
site quickly and often, enabling them to get a feel for the full extent of the hospital. A
number of the Landor team had friends or relatives who had been patients at GOSH,
so the team were able to understand the emotional needs all the more quickly.
Approach
Hospitals can be lonely, scary places, especially when you're a child. It can be hard
to find your way around, and even harder to find a place to belong. The brief was to
provide a theme, naming solution and guidelines for the floors and wards, to aid way-
finding. It needed to interest children of all ages, families and staffand have long-term
appeal.
The hospital's philosophy, 'the child first and always', was at the heart of the strategy.
There needed to be a theme that everyone could relate to, yet would be fun for chil-
dren. With naming, the designers had to be creative while adhering to strict criteria -
no negative cultural connotations, not too abstract, and be simple for non-English-lan-
guage speakers to pronounce. The designers drew inspiration from the natural world
