Michaela’s Journey into Wayfinding Design
Michaela's passion for wayfinding stems from her architectural background from the Royal Danish Academy, having also completed a masters in Type and Wayfinding. Michaela has spent nine years at Urgent Agency and has played a pivotal role in establishing a dedicated wayfinding department at Urgent to address the gap in the local market and the growing needs for strategic wayfinding solutions in the region.
The Challenges of Wayfinding in Scandinavia
Despite Scandinavia's strong reputation for design excellence, wayfinding often remains an afterthought in the architectural process. Wayfinding is less common among local firms, in contrast to regions like the UK, Australia, and the USA, where the market is comparatively more developed. Michaela highlights that budget constraints, lack of awareness, and the perception of wayfinding as a purely functional aspect often contribute to this challenge. Architectural firms in the region frequently handle wayfinding themselves and often late in the project cycle, missing opportunities for strategic and experience-driven solutions.
Balancing Functionality and Aesthetics
Scandinavian design principles, with a specific focus on minimalism and craftsmanship, play an important role in shaping wayfinding solutions. The region, specifically Denmark traditionally views the role of design more holistically.
Michaela emphasises the significance of integrating wayfinding elements seamlessly into a space while maintaining clarity and functionality. Denmark's historical design approach, where architects traditionally oversaw every touchpoint within a scheme, from the building itself to the furniture within it and even down to the signage. This historic approach still influences how the region perceives and practices design today.
Designmuseum Denmark
One standout project for Urgent Agency was the brand strategy, visual identity and wayfinding design for the Danish Design Museum, located in an old hospital building in the centre of Copenhagen.
The team completed and digitised a typeface found in the museum's archives originally designed by Naur Klint and integrated a bold colour scheme to modernise and compliment the typeface. The team successfully enhanced navigation while maintaining the institution's cultural identity. This project combined branding with a comprehensive wayfinding strategy, creating a ‘red thread’ throughout the building to help guide visitors with a bold navigational approach.




Educating the Next Generation
Michaela lectures at the Royal Danish Academy, teaching a monthly course on wayfinding. She calls for greater awareness and wider representation of the practice within architecture and design education.
Whilst there may not be the requirement for full degrees in the subject, wayfinding should be a fundamental component of architectural education Michaela states. Architects should understand not only the technical aspects but also the crucial anthropological elements that influence how people connect with places. Michaela works to challenge students' preconceptions about wayfinding. Many graphic design students initially view wayfinding as merely functional signage with arrows, missing its potential as a powerful storytelling and branding element. While some contexts like hospitals and airports demand more rational, practical approaches, other spaces such as cultural institutions and urban areas allow for creative expression that goes beyond pure functionality. This nuanced understanding of context and purpose is something Michaela believes should be central to design education, helping to elevate wayfinding beyond its often-limited perception of simply directional signage.
The Role of Technology in Wayfinding
While acknowledging technology's role and it's increasing presence in our day-to-day wayfinding, Michaela takes a thoughtfully sceptical stance toward its role in navigation. Saying it's all about finding the right balance for digital tools, serving as functional additions rather than complete replacements for traditional wayfinding methods. Certain contexts like hospitals and airports can certainly benefit significantly from interactive digital information, but an over-reliance on technology in general wayfinding applications could have detrimental effects.
Michaela expresses particular concern about losing our innate navigational abilities – for thousands of years we have found our way using the stars, reading landscapes, and understanding the subtle cues in our environment. Michaela worries we will see a future where people become "zombies" depending on tools like Google Maps or digital wearables, disconnected from their spatial surroundings and social interactions. Michaela references Kevin Lynch's "The Image of the City." How cities and buildings already contain these navigational patterns such as landmarks, paths, districts and edges that if done well, we intuitively understand and therefore don't require such heavily on digital tools.
What emerges from Michaela's perspective is that she doesn't reject using technology to aid wayfinding outright, but rather using it alongside traditional methods instead of replacing it entirely. We should preserve our ability to "navigate with open eyes," over-reliance on digital tools might weaken our natural spatial awareness and understanding of built environments. We should take a more human-centred approach to wayfinding. Balancing technological advancement with our inherent navigational capabilities.
Looking to the Future
Michaela envisions a future where wayfinding is recognized as a vital component of user experience, with greater collaboration across disciplines. Highlighting the need for ongoing evaluation and adaptation to ensure wayfinding solutions remain effective and relevant.
To discover more about Michaela Pihl Olsen’s work at Urgent visit: https://urgent.agency/contact