Dementia Friendly Signage

At The Care Home Designer, we know that an effective dementia care environment must balance safety, dignity, and homeliness. Our dementia friendly signage is designed specifically for care homes- supporting residents to navigate independently while supporting staff and assuring compliance with best practice dementia care standards.

 

Why Signage is Essential in Dementia Care

For residents living with dementia, even simple tasks like finding a bedroom or recognising the dining room can be challenging and stressful. Poor wayfinding increases anxiety, dependence on staff, and can lead to avoidable incidents.

In contrast, purpose-designed dementia friendly signage will help support:

  • Residents- promoting independence, reducing confusion, and supporting general well-being.
  • Staff- ease pressure, save time, and help reduce levels of resident dependency where orientation is concerned.
  • Care Providers- supporting compliance and demonstrating commitment to person-centred care and well-being, as well as presenting a professional, welcoming environment for families and friends.

Thoughtful care home signage is not just about directions; it’s about improving quality of life.

Our Range of Internal Care Home Dementia Signage

Our collection of high-quality internal dementia friendly signs goes beyond wayfinding. It is designed to support communication, independence, and well-being and personhood throughout the care environment for people living with dementia

  • Communication Displays: Effective, high-contrast, attractive designs to communicate menus, activity schedules, and staff members, helping residents stay connected and informed.
  • Wayfinding Signage: Clear navigation aids for residents, including Room Designation Signs, Projecting signs, and Non-Resident Focused Room Signs to reduce disorientation for new and temporary staff and visitors.
  • Personalisation Tools: Support recognition and belonging with options including Door-cals, Memory Boxes, and Personalised Bedroom Signs.
  • Reminiscence Displays: Large, themed artwork displays enhanced with reminiscence artefacts designed to trigger memories and conversation, provide comfort, and create engaging social spaces.
  • Acoustic Imagery: A specific treatment for artwork to absorb sound in areas where acoustics are challenging. Dining areas most commonly have a requirement as excessive and harsh noises often lead to residents with dementia, impaired hearing or both, avoiding the dining area altogether, missing, impacting their socialising opportunities and nutrition too, of course. We provide a range of appropriate and stimulating food-related images that aid orientation and provide appetite cues. All the images are available as acoustic panels to reduce auditory stress and support the vital dining experience.

When you invest in dementia friendly signage for your care home, you need more than just labels on your doors. What you do need is expertly designed solutions, tried and tested to support daily living for residents by addressing challenges of Orientation, Personalisation, and Wayfinding with products that are safe and effective. Here’s what sets us apart:

Unparalleled expertise – 20 years of experience focused on dementia-friendly design backed by research and practical experience.

Scalable solutions-Whether for a single home or a care group, our products can be rolled out consistently and cost-effectively.

Compliance & best practices- Our sign designs have set the standards for dementia care guidelines.

Person-centred design- Our products support dignity, independence, and well-being.

Trusted by care providers nationwide: Our products are used by care providers large and small throughout the UK.

 FAQ’s

What is dementia friendly signage?

Dementia friendly signs aim to support people with dementia to negotiate their environment as independently as possible and help reduce unnecessary stress. The signs provide clear communication employing appropriate colour contrast and type, and where appropriate, incorporating visual cues by way of unambiguous photographic images or icons.

What are dementia friendly colours?

Essentially, there’s no such thing as a dementia-friendly colour. The psychology of colour is a highly complex area in its own right, and the idea that primary colours are visually more effective has long since been debunked. 

From the visibility point of view, what really matters is colour contrast, which can be gauged by the LRV: Light Reflectance Value. To be effective for an aging eye, the target differential to achieve the appropriate level of contrast is 30%.

From the interior design/environment perspective, warm, calming colours are the order of the day, and an interior designer ‘worth their salt’ will know which colours are calm and soothing.