In 2006, Michèl Verheem founded ID-LAB in Melbourne, Australia. At that time, designers in Australia were creating sign systems that looked good but didn’t always function as well as hoped, and the term “wayfinding” wasn’t that widely used. ID-LAB (pun coming up) put wayfinding on the map in Australia. They are a wayfinding strategy firm first and designers second, working mainly in healthcare, education, and civic sectors.
Today, ID-LAB’s “Beautiful Functionality” paradigm has been exported and used in many large projects in Australasia, North America, Middle East and Europe. The list includes: Melbourne Arts Centre, Australia; AZ Groeninge Hospital, Belgium; Auckland Hospital, New Zealand; and Amphia Hospital, Netherlands.
Since 2020, local ID-LAB consultancies have been established in The Netherlands and France, and ID-LAB is looking to further expand its international network.
Join us to hear Michèl Verheem offer a uniquely Australian-Global perspective on wayfinding, and to learn about ID-LAB’s global business opportunity.
About our speaker
Michèl Verheem is the Director of ID-Lab. He is regarded as a global leader in the specialised field of design and research for wayfinding and user centred design within healthcare. Originally from the Netherlands, Michèl has called Australia home for the last 25 years. He has over 35 years’ experience in the wayfinding industry. His approach explores the “why” behind people’s behaviour to make even the most complex built environments work better for people. He does this in the context of architecture, urban planning, wayfinding, and user experience. Michèl’s approach is multi-disciplinary, with knowledge spanning human behavioural science, process discovery, stakeholder management, change management, design, and architecture. Michèl sits on the committee of the Australian Health Design Council (AHDC), and he has helped to shape it as a leader in the health design space and wayfinding space in Australia and globally. Michèl is also founder of FunFlight, a not-for-profit volunteer organisation in Australia that offers children and teenagers touched by a life-changing illness, a day of aeronautic entertainment with their families.
Date / time
Thursday 25 May 2023 (8am EDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CET / 10pm Melbourne Time)