Senior Wayfinding Designer

Wayfinding Designer

We are Acrylicize, a global creative studio powered by art and culture, inspired by stories of people and place. Our multidisciplinary team of artists, designers, project managers, and strategists create and curate art that activates spaces for some of the world’s leading brands and institutions. Experts in using art and design to drive positive change for people and planet, delivering unmissable moments that get everyone talking. With studios in New York and London, we offer creative impact on a global scale.

Your Creative Process:

As a Wayfinding Designer at Acrylicize, you will contribute to the entire lifecycle of our wayfinding projects, from understanding how people move through and experience a space, through to concept development, detailed design, artwork and implementation.

Working closely with our wider Creative, Production and Project Management teams, as well as architects, clients, consultants and fabrication partners, you'll help us create bespoke wayfinding schemes that make spaces intuitive to navigate while bringing brand, culture and storytelling into the experience.

Our approach to wayfinding goes beyond signage. We consider people, behaviour, circulation, accessibility, information hierarchy and the character of a place to create systems that are clear, engaging and genuinely integrated into their environments. Our schemes can span everything from branded and destination signage to navigation systems, directories, level identifiers, environmental graphics and glazing manifestations.

We're looking for someone who combines strong graphic and information design skills with spatial thinking and an understanding of the built environment. Your portfolio should demonstrate experience developing wayfinding or environmental graphic design projects, ideally showing your thinking from strategy and concept through to detailed design and final implementation.

We give Designers the freedom and space to play. There are client deliverables to meet within our Creative Process, but how you get to these is up to you.

Our Wayfinding Creative Process:

Phase 1: Discover - Understanding the brief, the client, the users and the space. Exploring how people move through an environment, identifying key requirements for any proposed systems and developing the spatial and information strategy.

Phase 2: Design - Developing the wayfinding strategy and creative direction, including sign locations, graphic principles, messaging conventions, sign families and visual language.

Phase 3: Develop – Developing the chosen approach into a comprehensive scheme, including location plans, messaging schedules, sign types, scale, materiality and design intent.

Phase 4: Detail - Closely liaising with our Production Team as they finalise designs for fabrication, including scaled location plans, detailed specifications, fixing details, final artwork and benchmark samples.

Phase 5: Deliver - Working alongside our Production and Project Management teams, providing guidance to both manufacturers and installation teams to protect the design intent through production, installation, snagging and completion.

A typical week for a Wayfinding Designer might include:

- Heading to site to understand a space, its users and how people move through it.

- Working across multiple projects, from wayfinding strategy and concept through to detailed design and production.

- Reviewing architectural plans and researching users, place and brand to inform your approach.

- Developing sign families, information hierarchies, typography, iconography, maps and graphic systems.

- Creating location plans and messaging schedules to map information across the user journey.

- Sketching and visualising concepts that bring together function, brand, materiality and the built environment.

- Presenting ideas and design rationale to internal team, clients and key stakeholders.

- Collaborating with architects, designers, fabricators and our internal teams to develop and deliver schemes.

- Producing detailed design intent and final artwork, considering accessibility, scale, materials and buildability.

- Reviewing prototypes and visiting site during production and installation to maintain design intent.

- Taking time out for Time & Space – we give our team half a day each month to visit galleries or follow their creative pursuits and stay inspired.

Key Responsibilities:

- Lead wayfinding projects from brief through to completion, taking ownership of design quality and delivery.

- Liaise directly with clients to establish project briefs, deliverables, schedules and expectations.

- Undertake circulation planning and user journey analysis, identifying key routes, destinations and decision points.

- Research users, place and context, translating insights into clear and considered design solutions.

- Develop clear and comprehensive wayfinding design guidelines, documenting design principles and standards to support consistency across multi-site and global rollouts.

- Conceptualise and develop creative wayfinding strategies, sign families and graphic systems.

- Present concepts and design rationale confidently to clients and key stakeholders.

- Collaborate with architects, designers, manufacturers and other third parties to align workstreams and maintain design intent.

- Develop and document designs through plans, elevations, details and design packages.

- Produce sign placement plans, content schedules, proof-referencing systems and final artwork in line with signage requirements and standards.

- Consider accessibility, legibility, materiality, fabrication and buildability throughout the design process, and ensure that schemes satisfy local building codes and regulations.

- Review prototypes, samples and technical information with manufacturers and fabrication partners.

- Be actively involved on site throughout implementation, stress-testing solutions, resolving issues and protecting design intent through to completion.

- Manage multiple projects and deadlines while maintaining a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.

You must have:

- 5+ years’ experience in a wayfinding or environmental graphic design role, with experience taking projects from concept through to implementation.

- A degree in Graphic Design, Information Design, Environmental Graphic Design or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.

- A portfolio demonstrating strong wayfinding, environmental graphic design or information design work, ideally showing both your creative process and completed projects.

- Strong graphic design skills with an excellent understanding of typography, layout, information hierarchy and visual communication.

- An understanding of how people navigate and experience spaces, with the ability to translate complex information into clear and intuitive design.

- Experience developing wayfinding systems, including directional signage, sign families, iconography, pictograms, mapping and/or information graphics.

- Confidence reading and working with architectural plans, elevations and spatial information.

- An understanding of scale, materiality, fabrication and how designed elements come together within the built environment.

- An awareness of inclusive and accessible design principles, including legibility, contrast, placement and different user needs.

- Excellent knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite, particularly Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop.

- Strong conceptual and critical thinking skills, with an interest in research-led design and placemaking.

- Experience developing wayfinding guidelines for multi-site or global rollouts would be preferable.

- The ability to communicate and present ideas confidently to clients, collaborators and internal teams.

- Great attention to detail and consistency across large and potentially complex schemes.

- The ability to manage your workload, prioritise effectively and meet deadlines across multiple projects.

- A collaborative approach, alongside the confidence to work independently and take ownership of your work.

- A willingness to listen to feedback, challenge ideas constructively and continually improve the quality of our studio's output.

It would be great if you also have:

Experience with CAD, SketchUp or other 3D/spatial design software would be a bonus, as would experience working directly with architects, signage manufacturers and fabricators. Experience with digital wayfinding or integrating digital and physical user experiences would also be valuable — particularly given that Acrylicize's own wayfinding framework includes digital integration alongside physical navigation.

A little bit about our benefits...

Hybrid working (Tuesday–Thursday in the studio, Monday and Friday optional from home)

Enhanced maternity and paternity leave

AXA Employee Assistance Programme from day one

Medicash healthcare cash plan

L&G Life Assurance

Cycle to Work scheme

Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice scheme

YellowNest Childcare salary sacrifice scheme

Half a day each month for creative pursuits, plus a £15 monthly allowance

Company MacBook

Regular team lunches and social events

Our Commitment

Acrylicize is proud to be a certified B Corporation, reflecting our commitment to using business as a force for good. We are seeking individuals who are not only excellent at what they do but who also believe deeply in sustainability, social responsibility, and community impact.

We are an equal opportunity employer dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, disability, national origin, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital or civil partnership status, veteran status, pregnancy, or maternity.