Disorientation is a significant cause of stress in modern life. Known human navigation principles make it an unnecessary stress, yet it is common.
Consider the frustration of the usually competent corporate executive, running late as he searches for a meeting room among a warren of offices in an unfamiliar office building. Or consider the feelings of an elderly patient who takes pride in her punctuality, already ten minutes late, as she eases her walker down one corridor after another in a mazelike hospital, trying to find the Imaging Department for the first time. Hearts pound, sweat beads, worries form --- all as a result of these visitors not being able to find their way.
In addition to physical and psychological impacts, the stress of disorientation can have other consequences. In health care facilities, when ambulance drivers or seriously ill patients can't quickly find emergency rooms, or when a code blue team cannot locate an arresting visitor in a parking structure, life and death issues are at stake.
In other types of facilities, like airports or office buildings, opportunities (and the resulting effects on reputation, income and time) may be lost, as a result of meetings, travel connections, or presentations missed due to disorientation.
Wayfinding confusion can also keep people from important experiences. In shopping malls, museums, or convention centers, disorientation may keep visitors from visiting desired destinations, or knowing other areas even exist.
At a time when many organizations pride themselves on their consumer-driven visions and user-friendliness, wayfinding ease is something that can add to the images of well-designed and well-managed facilities.