Global wayfinding experts launch Covid-19 design toolkit

International wayfinding experts Applied have launched the Covid-19 Design Toolkit, a free resource designed to tackle social distancing design.

Applied have published the Covid-19 Design Toolkit, a comprehensive set of guidelines, icons and templates on how to design systems for high-traffic spaces and encourage safer public behaviours in response to the pandemic. The toolkit is free to download at www.covid19designtoolkit.com while the accompanying design package can be purchased royalty-free to use and customise as organisations need.

The toolkit draws upon Applied's planning knowledge as the designers of city-wide systems. Over recent months, the practice has been working closely with clients on Covid-19 recovery; this has led to the development of a set of guidelines which also draw on the best-practice standards in the field of behaviour change.

The Covid-19 Design Toolkit has been developed with a wide variety of industries and operators in mind and is aimed at creating a universal language, which can be tailored to different audiences and environments, from entire cities to individual retail stores and offices. The manual sets out a clear roadmap for implementation across three sections:

Section 1 – Practical Principles
An overview of Covid-19, behavioural science and practical principles. This section also outlines many of the challenges in physical environments and begins to detail how to tackle them;

Section 2 – Message and Placement Guidelines
A practical how-to guide to help users implement effective signage and information including detailed sign placement plans;

Section 3 – Designs, Templates and Icons
This section describes the design elements required to create local, site-specific systems outlined in Section 2. This part of the toolkit also includes standards for sign designs, icons and typography. 

Tim Fendley, Founder and Creative Director at Applied, said: "At Applied, we design for some of the world's most complex places and as a result, end up helping millions of people. Through our work in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis, we've spotted a great degree of public confusion; knowing what to do when walking around a city or into a store, where to queue or at what point to wear a face mask? Coming out of lockdown, we now have a complicated set of rules to remember and be guided by – the Covid-19 Design Toolkit is our solution! It's a free to download guide which allows organisations to collaborate and ultimately make environments safer and easier to use without the confusion."

Tags (Specialism/Topics)


Guidance