The Eye Hospital is a large department with many different waiting spaces which used to be difficult for patients with poor sight to navigate.
Jon's scheme not only includes a colourful clear wayfinding system with colour-coding for each waiting space, but beautiful 'Oxford-themed' artwork for each waiting area.
Oxford-themed wall art in Oxford Eye Hospital
Illustrator Sarah Lacey worked with Jon to integrate child-friendly artwork into areas used by children, creating a trail of friendly animals - Ivor and Isla - for them to follow as well as fun-filled activity sheets for young patients which introduce them to some of the procedures they may encounter.
Sarah Lacey wall sticker of Ivor and Isla
"In 2023, I created some characters for an activity sheet for child patients at the Oxford Eye Hospital. ‘Ivor and Isla’ are animal characters (a bear and bunny) who feature as spot illustrations across a series of puzzles and games, designed to cheer up a visit to the Eye Hospital.
"The characters also reflect the tests and treatments that patients undergo during a visit to the eye clinics; in some images, the characters are using occluders and wearing eye patches for example.
"Meanwhile, towards the end of 2025, Oxford Eye Hospital began a series of improvements in the patient waiting area. There was lots of work to reduce visual noise and create more clearly marked and well thought out 'wayfinding' to help patients navigate the space, particularly those with vision impairment. Jon Brett and Ruth Charity who ran the project were keen to help children who visit the department feel included, and Ivor and Isla were a natural link to the activity sheets I'd already illustrated.
"I re-worked the original artwork for use in a larger scale, refining some of the details and they were turned into vinyl stickers. Ivor and Isla are now installed around the eye hospital at child's eye level, helping them find their way round and hopefully reassuring them during their visit."
Sarah Lacey
