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Intermediate

Indoor Mall Wayfinding

Design an indoor navigation experience that guides visitors between stores, services, and accessible routes inside a large mall.

Mobile, Kiosk2 to 4 hours

The brief

Understand the problem

Background

Large shopping centers contain multiple floors, similar corridors, temporary closures, and entrances that are difficult to distinguish. Standard street maps stop being useful once a visitor is indoors.

User context

Arun has forty minutes before a movie. He needs to collect an order, find an accessible restroom for his father, and reach the cinema without retracing his steps.

Product problem

The map must establish the visitor's current floor and orientation, then provide directions that remain understandable when indoor positioning is imprecise.

Objective

Design a route-planning and turn guidance flow for a multi-floor mall visit with accessibility needs.

What to design

Define the experience

Required experience

  • Destination search by store or service
  • Multi-stop indoor route planning
  • Step guidance with landmarks and floor changes

Screens and states

  • Mall map and search
  • Route overview
  • Turn guidance and rerouting

Core user flow

Follow the critical path

  1. 01

    Arun chooses his entrance

  2. 02

    He adds the pickup counter, restroom, and cinema

  3. 03

    The app proposes an accessible route

  4. 04

    A closed escalator triggers a clear reroute

Product rules

Requirements and constraints

Requirements

  • Show floor, entrance, and current orientation
  • Support elevators, escalators, stairs, and accessible paths
  • Use recognizable landmarks in written directions
  • Let visitors reorder or remove stops

Constraints

  • Indoor location may drift by twenty meters
  • The mall can publish temporary closures
  • Directions must remain usable without continuous connectivity

Reality check

States worth considering

Location cannot be established
A lift is out of service
Two stores have similar names
The visitor enters on a different floor

Ready-to-use content

Mock data

Use this content to test hierarchy and realistic data states. You can expand it when the concept needs more depth.

Route stops

  • North Entrance, Level 1
  • Parcel Point, Level 2
  • Accessible restroom, Level 2
  • Cinema 8, Level 4

Finish line

What to deliver

  • A mobile route flow with three key states
  • One kiosk view for finding and sending a route to a phone

If you want more

Optional extensions

Add parking spot return guidance
Support quiet routes with fewer crowded areas

Optional direction

Visual resources

Use these as a starting constraint if you want one. They are not part of the required solution.

Font pairing
Amatic SCJosefin Sans

Amatic SC & Josefin Sans

Clear interface writing gives people the confidence to understand what changed and decide what to do next.

Icons
Illustrations

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