Alison Richings

For me, wayfinding is my vocation. I’ve always been fascinated by human behaviour – why we make the decisions we do, how the environment impacts on that, and how we can make things better for all concerned. When you get that right, it can be hugely rewarding.

I believe in grounding everything in strategy to unlock core insights. Once you know these, work becomes a creative exercise in how best to get to the end result – which for me is to emotionally engage with people in the built environment and give them a compelling reason to keep coming back.

In a previous life, I was part of the team that researched and wrote the national NHS wayfinding guidelines. Now, I lead Endpoint’s wayfinding design team in London.

Over the last 16 years, I’ve worked on a host of large-scale and multi-faceted destination projects – including Saadiyat Island in the UAE; the Qatar Petroleum District; Heathrow’s Terminal 5; National Museum of Oslo; the Royal Opera House; and Harrods.

I’m also a writer and a speaker on the subject of wayfinding, and in my spare time, I can either be found baking or obsessing over fonts.