English:
A crucial aspect of developing an effective wayfinding system is understanding the way people think when entering unknown territory. Armed only with graphic aids in the form of maps, diagrams or signs, how do people imagine a space, and their position within it? How do they consider their physical relationship with geography and architecture, and how do their needs evolve as they move through an unfamiliar environment? What kind of 'mental mapping' do they employ to find their way, or remember their route, and how can the process be assisted with good information design?
There are parallels also between pedestrian wayfinding, both outdoors or within buildings, and navigation through layers of interactive media such as the internet or smart phone. For a journey that is more structured than simply browsing, surfing, or wandering through space, each requires of the visitor a certain level of mental pre-visualization of the physical or virtual places to be explored. This can be facilitated and enhanced with appropriate use of simple communications design thinking. Furthermore, these two types of environment are increasingly complementing one another, and design for virtual space assists and influences the design of wayfinding tools in both real and virtual worlds.
With reference to a variety of recent projects in cities such as London, Dublin and Vancouver, mental mapping is shown to define the function and platform for information design at different points in any journey.

Slovensko:
Ključni vidik pri razvijanju učinkovitega orientacijskega sistema je razumevanje načina razmišljanja ljudi, ki vstopijo na neznan teritorij. Kako si posameznik, oborožen samo z grafičnimi pomagali v obliki zemljevidov, diagramov ali znakov, zamišlja prostor in svoj položaj v njem? Kako si predstavlja svoj fizični odnos do geografije in arhitekture in kako se njegove potrebe razvijajo, ko napreduje skozi neznano okolje? Kakšen miselni zemljevid si ustvarja pri iskanju in pomnjenju poti ter kako lahko ta proces podpremo z dobrim informacijskim oblikovanjem?
Obstajajo vzporednice med orientacijo peš v odprtem in zaprtem prostoru ter navigacijo skozi plasti interaktivnih medijev, kot sta internet in smart phone. Za potovanje, ki je bolj strukturirano od preprostega brskanja, srfanja ali tavanja v prostoru, mora biti obiskovalec sposoben določene ravni vnaprejšnje miselne vizualizacije fizičnega in virtualnega raziskovanega prostora. To lahko omogočimo in izboljšamo z ustrezno uporabo preprostega razmišljanja o komunikacijskem oblikovanju. Še več, ti dve vrsti okolja se vse bolj dopolnjujeta, oblikovanje za virtualni prostor pa podpira oblikovanje orientacijskih orodij v resničnem in virtualnem svetu ter vpliva nanj.
Na primerih različnih nedavnih projektov v Londonu, Dublinu in Vancouvru bo prikazano, kako miselni zemljevid določa funkcijo in platformo informacijskega oblikovanja na različnih točkah vsakega potovanja.