Site menus enable you to categorize your destinations into main menus and sub-menus so visitors can easily navigate through the Wayfinding solution. Destinations are the points of interest or locations you want your visitors to navigate to.
Purple support you with the creation of the menus, destinations and the placement of the destinations on the maps.
Menus
Main menus are shared across all platforms, kiosk, web and mobile, they display the destinations that map directly to a location. E.g. The main menu for departments opens a list of all departments and their respective destinations.
Sub-menus filter the destination list further. E.g. The main menu for amenities opens a list of the following sub-menus: Restaurants, Shopping, ATMs. If you click Restaurants this displays all restaurants and their respective destinations.
Example menu structure
Menu best practice
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Main menu should be kept between 4-5 categories with a maximum of 6.
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Sub-menus should have no more than 6 per main menu item.
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All menu titles should use simple familiar words and phrases to ensure you are reaching all audiences, where applicable menu titles should match building signage.
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Recommended no more than 3 levels of navigation
Some common categories include:
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Departments
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Shops and Dining
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Parking, Valet and Exits
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Conference Rooms
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Find a Physician
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Find a Room
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Guest Services
Destinations
Destination data is gathered in an excel format called a Master Data Template or MDT, this contains the destination data for each menu. All menus with destination data are represented by a tab in the MDT, if a main menu has sub-menus, only the sub-menus are included in the MDT, a main menu displays as a tab only if there are no respective sub-menus.
Destinations can include Departments, Dining, Gift Shops, Doctors, Restrooms, etc.
MDT format
|
Label |
Completed by |
Description |
|
Destination |
Purple |
A unique name linked to one destination and is not shared with any other entry. |
|
Quicklink |
Purple |
Can be shared among destinations and are unique to a specific drop point on the map (i.e. quicklink is the physical location for the destination). |
|
Language |
Purple |
Display language. |
|
Tags |
Client |
Additional search terms associated with the destination that end users may enter when trying to find a location. E.g. Tags associated with a Cafeteria may be; food, dinner, lunch, drinks, eating, etc. Tags are recommended but not mandatory. |
|
Location |
Client |
Destination name which appears to end users. This data is searchable within the application. |
|
Details |
Client |
Details about the destination, e.g. opening hours. |
|
Floor |
Client |
Which floor the destination is on. |
You can add additional columns to the MDT to add any other necessary information.
Destination best practice
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Survey staff, patients/visitors on frequent destination requests.
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Check with IT/Marketing if facility website information can be used for Wayfinding menu development (i.e. Department List, Doctor List).
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Use consistent terminology in the MDT that reflects existing facility static signage and patient appointment reminders.
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Limit each menu to 4-5 columns, in addition to Location, common columns include: Floor, Building, and Details.
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Use tags to store alternate search terms patients may use that do not reflect signage. For example:
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Cafeteria (static signage)
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Food is a common searchable tag
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Do not include terms in the tag column that are represented in the location column because that is also searchable. E.g. It is not necessary to include the word Cancer as a tag for the location Cancer Center because Cancer is included in the location title.
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Fuzzy search navigates through location name and then tags for a match. Fuzzy search makes it easier and faster for users to search destinations and handles spelling mistakes.
Add destinations to maps
When you complete the MDT you can use this to mark the destinations on your CADs or map art PDFs, so Purple can add the quicklinks (drop points). You can write on the map and scan it to send it back to us or you can use an editing tool.
You can use any type of numbering convention as long as it is clear how the destination matches the map. We recommend adding a Map # column to the MDT and use the Map number to identify the destination. Destinations can use the same numbers, for example if an ATM and vending machine are in the same location they may both share number 4 on the map, as follows: