About WayX
Standards aren't a checklist. They're the design.
Wayfinding signage usually means a designer, a copy of Illustrator and a thick binder of standards to check by hand. Even then, you hope it meets the clauses it is held to. WayX encodes the clauses it checks as live validation, names the ones it doesn't and will not hand you a print file while a clause it checks is failing.
What it checks, and on whose authority
Character height
The cap height of each reading task against the floor §703.5.5 sets for its viewing distance and mounting band. The table prints two columns that disagree; WayX applies the stricter and says so on the row, beside the measured cap, the floor and the margin between them.
Mounting height
The declared mounting height, finish floor to character baseline, against the minimum §703.5.6 sets for visual characters. The standard prints 40 in and 1015 mm; 40 in is 1016 mm, so the stricter of the two applies. Left undeclared, the row says the clause was not checked, and that withholds the print file too.
And what it does not claim
ADA 703.5.5 and 703.5.6 are law where the ADA binds, and they are the two clauses of §703.5 WayX enforces. It does not check §703.5.1, 703.5.2, 703.5.3, 703.5.4, 703.5.7, 703.5.8 and 703.5.9, and its own verdict names them. Text contrast is checked too, as a WayX baseline rather than a legal finding, labeled that way on the row. ISO 3864-1 safety layouts are checked as advice where a sign is placed in the EU, and nowhere else. Proportions (§703.5.4) and stroke thickness (§703.5.7) are measured when you upload a font, but not on the sign itself.
The Founder
Gancho Churkov
Founder · Creative & Digital Experience Lead, AI Enablement at Sofia Airport
WayX comes from thirteen years of designing for environments where mistakes cost time, money or trust. As Creative & Digital Experience Lead, AI Enablement at Sofia Airport, I've built the systems the airport's 8.41 million passengers of 2025 moved through: wayfinding, flight information displays and digital infrastructure. Places where clarity, accessibility and scale aren't optional.
That work is part of why Sofia Airport was named best airport in Europe in the 5 to 15 million passenger category for passenger experience in the 2024 ACI and Amadeus Airport Service Quality awards. The rigor that earned it is the rigor WayX applies to the clauses it cites: the ADA first, with a contrast baseline alongside it.
The method is simple. Architect the system logic first, then build the interface that makes it clear. The result is a sign whose checked clauses are settled before you export, and a verdict that says which ones those were.
Type, don't draw
Pour in your destinations. WayX builds the layout automatically: direction grouping, shared arrows and balanced columns.
Checked as you type
The clauses WayX checks are checked on every edit, each on its own cited row. Nothing waits for a review at the end.
Print-ready in seconds
SVG and PDF at exact size, with bleed, CMYK and outlined text on the print PDF. The print PDF and the send wait for the clauses; the SVG and the screen PDF never do.
Frequently asked questions
What is WayX?
WayX is parametric wayfinding signage software. You type your destinations. WayX lays them out by direction, checks them against the clauses it cites, then exports print-ready files. No Illustrator or design team required.
What wayfinding standards does WayX validate against?
Where the ADA binds, WayX checks ADA 703.5.5 and 703.5.6 and cites each on its own row. It does not check §703.5.1, 703.5.2, 703.5.3, 703.5.4, 703.5.7, 703.5.8 and 703.5.9, and says so in the verdict. Proportions (§703.5.4) and stroke thickness (§703.5.7) are measured when you upload a font, but not on the sign itself. Text contrast is checked too, but as a WayX baseline rather than as law, and the engine labels it that way. ISO 3864-1 safety layouts are checked as advice where a sign is placed in the EU, and nowhere else.
Do I need a designer to make wayfinding signs?
No. WayX handles the layout, the checks and the export. The checks are not advisory: while one of the clauses WayX enforces is failing, there is no print file. The clauses it does not check are named in its own verdict, and those remain yours to satisfy.
Who is WayX for?
WayX is for any infrastructure that guides and organizes people at scale: airports, hospitals, metro and transit systems, bus terminals, municipalities, campuses, venues and the agencies that serve them. Anywhere wayfinding has to meet a standard without a dedicated design team for each sign.
What does WayX not do?
WayX is not a general design tool. It makes wayfinding signs and nothing else. It does not draft a sign from a description. There is no AI in it; the layout is computed from the destinations you type, and the standards decide the rest.
It checks no state or city building code on the directional sign. California and Texas have been read; under California the room sign is also held to CBC 11B-703, in part (11B-703.2.4, 11B-703.3.2 and 11B-703.5.7 on rows of their own), and its verdict names the rest of 11B as not consulted. Otherwise a US sign is held to federal ADA, and where a local code applies WayX says so rather than assuming the sign meets it.
It does not vouch for what a drawing cannot see. The room sign is drawn to the raised character and braille clauses of the ADA as far as a drawing can: §703.2.2, 703.2.3, 703.2.4, 703.2.5, 703.2.6, 703.2.7, 703.2.8, 703.3.1 and 703.3.2. Some things a drawing cannot see: raised depth, braille dot height and shape, the stroke and spacing as built, a non-glare finish, the braille compared with the proof, mounting height and the location beside the door. The verdict names each as owed by the fabricator or the installer. It also says whether a credentialed braille transcriber has reviewed the braille; until one has, WayX does not vouch for the translation.
On every other sign type it checks two clauses of §703.5: 703.5.5 and 703.5.6. It does not check §703.5.1, 703.5.2, 703.5.3, 703.5.4, 703.5.7, 703.5.8 and 703.5.9, and its own verdict names them. Proportions (§703.5.4) and stroke thickness (§703.5.7) are measured when you upload a font, but not on the sign itself. Text contrast is a WayX baseline rather than a legal finding, and ISO 3864-1 safety layouts are checked as advice for signs placed in the EU only, with unverified thresholds marked as such.
It does not judge every sign at every size. The directional sign is solved on both axes: it lays out at the size you set, or refuses and tells you the size it needs. The room sign is measured as drawn at the size you set, and refuses a plate smaller than its content. The poster, ISO safety, warning, sticker, window, document and bulletin are solved at one reference size each. Away from it the panel returns no verdict at all and names the size at which verdicts resume, rather than judge a layout the engine did not compute.
How do I get access to WayX?
Saving and sending to a printer are by invitation, while a small group of designers uses WayX on real work. To ask for an invitation, write to gancho@wayx.app and say what signs you are working on.
How is WayX different from a generic sign maker?
A generic maker lets you draw a sign and hope it meets the clauses. WayX encodes the clauses it checks as a rules engine, so those checks aren't a separate step at the end: they run as the sign is generated, each cited on its own row.
What can I export from WayX?
SVG and PDF at exact size. The print PDF carries bleed, CMYK and text as outlines, and will not build until every color on the sign has a declared CMYK value. Where the ADA binds, the print PDF and the send to your print shop are offered only once every clause WayX checks has been checked and met. A clause left undeclared withholds them the same way a failing one does, so a blank field is not a way round the check. The SVG and the screen PDF are never withheld: a sign can always be reviewed.