Designing a Wayfinding System for the San Francisco Giants
Designing an integrated wayfinding system that improves clarity and confidence for guests while making complex venues easier to operate.
Context + Mandate
Oracle Park is a 42,000-seat stadium on the San Francisco waterfront and home to the San Francisco Giants.
Since opening in 2000, the venue has undergone significant changes. New fan areas, premium spaces, concessions, and non-baseball events, such as concerts, were introduced over time. The wayfinding infrastructure didn’t keep pace. It grew in pieces, without a single system to guide how information should work across the ballpark.
This led to an inconsistent hierarchy, visual clutter at key decision points, and congestion during peak times. These weren’t cosmetic issues. They affected how people moved, how staff operated, and how the venue performed on game days.
I was brought in to design a clear, scalable wayfinding system that improved navigation, reduced operational friction, and supported commercial and experiential zoning for different customer and event types — while respecting the Giants’ brand and the ballpark's character.
The Real Problem
At a surface level, fans struggled to find their way.
The deeper issue was structural. Wayfinding decisions were made in isolation, with signage used to solve local problems rather than to support the venue as a whole. There was no shared logic for hierarchy, terminology, or behaviour across levels or event modes.
This led to competing signals at decision points, inconsistent language, and crowd build-ups that restricted access to concessions, premium areas, and partner zones.
The problem wasn’t legibility alone. It was the absence of a coherent spatial language.
My Role & Reframing the Work
I led the experience definition and system design for wayfinding across the ballpark, working with internal teams and specialist environmental design partners.
I joined the project in its second year. Early work had established a visual tone but was limited to a single level of the venue. Reviewing that approach, it was clear the same issues would repeat. Treating levels independently meant improvements would land in isolation, and inconsistency would grow as different teams and vendors interpreted standards differently.
I pushed to reframe the work as a venue-wide system problem.
Instead of optimising individual areas, the priority became defining a modular framework that could be applied consistently across the entire estate, regardless of who delivered the work or which event was taking place.
Constraints + Trade-offs
The park remained operational throughout. Installation had to be phased across seasons; architectural and sightline changes would be limited; and the ballpark's heritage character had to be protected.
The system also needed to support different event modes without ongoing redesign.
That required clear trade-offs: prioritizing hierarchy over bespoke solutions, designing for adaptability rather than single-use cases, and accepting incremental rollout in exchange for long-term consistency.
The System Approach
Our wayfinding framework defined a clear hierarchy of information, standardised terminology and iconography, adaptable templates, and rules for future additions to prevent erosion over time. This reduced reliance on ad-hoc fixes and gave the organisation a structure it could extend as the venue evolved.
The system was guided by three principles:
- Clarity over novelty - Information must be understood quickly in busy environments.
- Journey-first thinking - Navigation supports movement, not isolated destinations.
- Brand as atmosphere, not decoration - Brand reinforces place without competing with information.
These principles were used to evaluate every decision.
To lock it in, I worked with delivery partners to produce a comprehensive signage standards manual and summary, establishing a single source of truth for wayfinding across the venue.
Execution in Practice: Changing Gate Behaviour
One of the clearest operational issues was entry flow.
Data showed that nearly 80% of fans entered through just two of the four gates, creating congestion both outside and inside the stadium. Underused gates lacked clear visibility, reinforcing existing habits. If behaviour was to change, the system had to work immediately. A poor experience would only entrench old patterns.
With the shift to fully digital ticketing, I proposed extending wayfinding beyond the physical environment by including a recommended gate directly on tickets, aligned with seat location.
We tested this approach with single-game ticket holders first, then scaled it stadium-wide once behaviour shifted and confidence increased.
Outcomes + Impact
Navigation became more predictable during peak periods. Visual clutter decreased, temporary signage dropped significantly, and staff intervention was required less often.
These changes were reflected in fan feedback. Voice of Customer scores improved across key journey moments, including gate entry, ingress, and egress, and navigation-related complaints decreased. Overall NPS also trended upward as friction points were removed.
The system proved flexible enough to support non-baseball events without rework, reducing operational overhead while maintaining a consistent experience for different audiences.
Reflection
More than anything, this work established a stable foundation for how information is organised and communicated throughout the venue.
It reinforced the importance of treating wayfinding as an experience system rather than a graphic exercise. If revisiting the work, I would introduce live testing across a wider range of event types earlier. That said, the system-led approach was essential for balancing heritage, operational constraints, and long-term adaptability.
