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An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.
Introduction
Signage is the whole of all the information that helps users orient themselves in the servicescape ([9] Bitner, 1992). It contributes to development of wayfinding, defined as "a spatial problem solving process" ([2] Arthur and Passini, 1992): through which users may comprehend, on cognitive and behavioral levels, the components present in the environment in order to surf inside it and reach a certain destination ([43] Lynch, 1960; [50] Passini, 1984; [53] Rovine and Weisman, 1989; [52] Prestopnik and Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2000).
Signage, therefore, is an essential and important component of design, especially in certain service organizations such as, for example: airports ([11] Braaksma and Cook, 1980; [16] Caves and Pickard, 2001; [31] Fodness and Murray, 2007), hospitals ([29] Filosa Martone and Ippolito, 1995; [37] Ippolito, 1996; [12] Brown et al. , 1997), railroad stations, banks, schools, universities, university campus ([1] Abu-Obeid, 1998), public administrations, libraries, shopping malls ([24] Dogu and Erkip, 2000), leisure service ([58] Wakefield and Blodgett, 1996) as amusement and nature parks, theaters, museums, and hotels ([14] Callan and Kyndt, 2001), structures that host conventions or other events.
Orienting themselves in all these organizations without the support of adequate signage may become, for users, an extremely difficult experience, for some even traumatic, with a negative impact on quality perception ([37] Ippolito, 1996; [14] Callan and Kyndt, 2001; [31] Fodness and Murray, 2007) and user satisfaction ([18] Cheng, 1998, mentioned in [17] Chang et al. , 2006). In particular, when users come into contact with these service organizations they may perceive crowing ([58] Wakefield and Blodgett, 1996), discomfort, anger ([60] Wener and Kaminoff, 1983), confusion ([54] Schweizer et al. , 2006), irritation ([20] D'Astous, 2000), frustration, desperation ([47] Newman, 2007), lostness ([46] Newman, 1995) and losing of control ([41] Lio and Rody, 2009). The cause of these problems and states of mind is to be found in the characteristics of the service organizations (large dimensions, highly specialized level of services being provided) and in the interaction between users and servicescape (occasional and/or brief frequencies in terms of time, lack of familiarity with the structure) ([29] Filosa Martone and Ippolito, 1995; [37] Ippolito, 1996; [40] Lawton, 1996;...