Auckland War Museum

The Auckland War Memorial Museum tells the stories of New Zealand’s war, cultural and natural history. Diadem was engaged to develop an intuitive wayfinding system, creating a simplified experience to improve navigation to and within the Museum. The system needed to honour the Museum’s architecture and deliver a wayfinding response that is effective and flexible, delivered across physical and digital platforms. As the Museum took shape, Diadem’s scope of works included the visual communication design of the Museum’s wayfinding and signage system. The system uses images from the Museum’s collection, providing visual cues beyond just words, while colour links exhibition themes and maps. Respect for Te Reo Maori, the first language of New Zealand, was also a key part of the signage. Diadem’s wayfinding and signage solutions are environmentally and financially sustainable, simple, effective and flexible. In addition, this strategy was designed to be future-proofed so that the system could accommodate gallery renewal programs and continual changes on site. The solution is a panel system with interchangeable magnetic tiles that can be easily replaced when an exhibition changes or to suit altered user journeys.