Birmingham International Airport BHX wayfinding case study and reports.

Birmingham Airport (BHX) and not to be confused with Birmingham in Alabama, USA, is one of the main and largest UK airports.

Based in the Midlands, this airport serves middle England including Birmingham, Coventry, North Wales, and with flights to a number of locations worldwide.

Table of Contents

Airport Study

We were called in by the management of Birmingham Airport to provide a detailed audit, analysis, and report on their wayfinding and navigation signage system in the airport. This included:

externally in the grounds of the airport including the parking areas
inside the terminals (before security)
and in the terminal after security.

Over 3 days we analyzed every aspect of the airport including:

disability access and provision
connections to other hubs such as the conference center nearby and onsite hotels
the signage and its effectiveness or not
the full routes from various points such as the car park through to the departures area (i.e. full user routes)
the website and provision and access to wayfinding information such as postcodes and information for disabled travelers.
analysis in daylight and nighttime to factor in the differences in how wayfinding takes place in different environmental conditions.

In all, the wayfinding analysis was very detailed and was broken down into 4 sections if the airports.

A key requirement for the report was to not simply point out the issues found but to provide recommended solutions to improve wayfinding in terms of:

passenger flow
passenger, staff, and all users UX user experience (it is important to remember, of course, that it is not only passengers who need to effectively and easily navigate in an airport)
safety issues
DDA (disability access and provision)
what already works well.

Birmingham Airport Report

A full audit of the airport:

78-page report.
All aspects of the wayfinding system, including the use of space, signage, and human factors.
Including an audit of air-side, departures, and car parking areas.

Birmingham research — Birmingham Airport Audit and research results

Wayfinding Images from Birmingham Airport, England

Ccadburys branding in Birmingham -airport — Building a narrative that creates a journey that is more interesting. UX user experience for passengers can also mean commercial opportunities for airports.

Whellchair — As essential in airports and all locations is ensuring great DDA – disability access. Birmingham Airport has staff on hand and provides an excellent special assistance service.

Chinese signage — Paying attention to the user types that come through your facility, means that you can create targeted signage, in order to increase the UX user experience.

Wayfinding Training Course Online

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Dr Paul Symonds

Dr Paul Symonds has a PhD in Wayfinding from Cardiff Metropolitan University in the UK. Paul provides training on Wayfinding as a framework and inter-disciplinary topic.

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