The Wayfinder system was installed throughout the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylania in 1995 and 1996. It was designed by Bob Firth of Informing Design in Pittsburgh, who like many is a fan of information architects such as Richard Saul Wurman and Edward Tufte . The shade of purple used for the downtown region is unusually light and reddish, almost magenta or dark pink. These are the main navigational landmarks in Pittsburgh.
Directional signs guide travelers to their destination.
The Wayfinder map appears at the top of each directional sign. When the directional sign is located in the same zone as the destination, the background of the sign matches the color for that zone. An arrow appears in the dark blue band at the bottom. A directional sign that leads to a destination in a different zone shows the name of the destination inside a color-coded stripe which indicates in which region the destination is located. The sample sign shows that one may access Mount Washington by crossing the Liberty Bridge.