Floor & Decor · 2017 and 2019 · with Slalom

Customers got lost in the store. Employees got lost in the security docs.

Two projects for the same retailer. First, a signage system for warehouse stores where every aisle looks the same. Then, a security knowledge base that explains firewalls and password vaults to store managers in plain language.

UX lead at Slalom. Signage design and store comps in 2017. Information design for the knowledge base in 2019.18 wayfinding comps and 22 security illustrations

The problem

A Floor & Decor store is a warehouse with aisles numbered into the thirties and racks three pallets high.

/From the main walkway, you can't tell aisle 31 from aisle 34.

/Inside an aisle, you can't tell how far down you are.

/The company wanted to see the signs in its real stores before building any.

/Two years later, the security team's docs were correct, and nobody outside the team could read them.

The store comps are my original 2017 composites in Floor & Decor's own store photos. The sign artwork and the knowledge base page are redrawn in 2026 from the original files.

Two shapes and one color

An aisle sign with the logo and a number. A pin-shaped marker that sticks out from the rack. A bay label with a barcode. A floor label. All in Floor & Decor red, and all readable from 40 feet under warehouse lights.

sign kitThe four sign types, redrawn from the original artwork.

Shown in the real store, at real scale

I put the signs into photos of actual stores, matching the lighting and the perspective. The markers shrink as they go down the aisle, so you can see exactly what a customer would see before anything gets built.

aisle signsAisle signs over the main walkway.

aisle markersAisle markers running down both sides of an aisle.

Security explained in plain language

One illustration style across 22 drawings: people, admin accounts, servers, and the store itself. Each version got plainer. Product names came out and what the thing does went in. Store managers could find their own store on the diagrams.

knowledge baseThe privileged access page, with its diagram redrawn.

What made it work

A sign system with two shapes and one color.

Comps in real store photos, at real scale and perspective.

Before-and-after pairs from the same camera angle.

Diagrams that say what each part does, not what it's called.

The company's real locations in the diagrams, so people can find themselves.

Outcome

The signage went into Floor & Decor stores, and the knowledge base went live for employees.

/Customers found their aisle without asking an associate.

/The company approved the sign system from the comps, before fabricating anything.

/Store managers and new hires used the knowledge base to answer their own security questions.