Colette Jeffrey

Dr Colette Jeffrey is Associate Professor of Wayfinding and Inclusive Design at BCU. Her PhD explored indoor navigation, inclusive wayfinding and why people get lost in buildings, using BCU’s Parkside and Millennium Point as study sites. Colette was appointed Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) in 2022 in recognition of her contributions to the design of inclusive human navigation systems, and research on navigator cognition and is currently a RIN Council Member and Trustee. She is currently working with RIN members on a research project to find inclusive navigation technologies that will help people living with Alzheimer’s disease keep mobile and live independently by helping them find local amenities and avoid getting lost.

Colette is researching wayfinding systems at children’s hospitals to develop new guidance that builds on the wayfinding research she undertook for NHS Estates, published in 1999.  Until recently, she was a Director of the Sign Design Society, the UK’s professional body for wayfinding designers, and she continues to host their monthly online design seminars.

Before joining BCU in 2009, Colette was Inclusive Design Director at Applied Wayfinding and Wayfinding Design Director at Brand Union two global agencies based in London. She has designed wayfinding strategies and systems for over 25 NHS hospitals, the Natural History Museum in London, Tower Bridge, Wembley Arena, Heathrow Airport and shopping centres in Dublin and Dubai. Colette teaches graphic design, inclusive design and wayfinding at BCU and for 4 years was academic lead at Birmingham Institute of Fashion and Creative Arts (BIFCA) in Wuhan China, visiting the campus many times to teach.

Last year her wayfinding consultancy project for Birmingham Children’s Hospital was recognised as ‘Most Impactful Consultancy’ in BCU’s Knowledge Exchange awards and she now plans to advise the hospital on implementing the proposed design strategy. She is supervising two international PhD students who are exploring wayfinding information for city cyclists and visual communication in Bahrain.