ADA-Compliant Signage: An Accessible Opportunity for Wide-Format Providers

Serving this space effectively means understanding the requirements deeply.

If you’re a wide-format print service provider (PSP) in search of a new avenue for revenue, creating ADA-compliant signage may just fit the bill.

There exists a long-standing need for accessible signage, but the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 made accessibility features like signage a federal requirement. The requisites for accessible design enshrined in the ADA have since been updated several times, most recently in 2010.

ADA requires a high contrast ratio between the color of the text and its background. | Credit: Mimaki USA

“It's a business that is always going to be around as the need for disabilities comes up, as the aging population [grows], and as we just become more inclusive as a society,” says David Akerele, product marketing specialist at Canon USA, which is a member of PRINTING United Alliance.

Per the “2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design,” signs in facilities built or renovated after the 1992 enforcement date with funds from the public, or for use by the public, need to be accessible for people with disabilities.

“If you're talking about schools, hospitals — [it’s] just to be more inclusive of the sight-impaired, so that they have wayfinding signage throughout the building,” says Hugo Gonzalez, senior segment specialist at Mimaki USA, also a PRINTING United Alliance member. “Because of this, there's a constant need for it. Every single new building that's publicly accessed is going to require new signage. And the signage is not necessarily a one-time installation; there are factors like wear and tear or rebranding.”

Some exemptions exist: these include signage that will be in place for seven days or less; in parking facilities and detention and correctional facilities; and include things like building directories, menus, and room occupant names.

Requirements for ADA-Compliant Signage

In terms of the regulations themselves, there are a few that concern signage. First, ADA-compliant signage must include Braille and raised characters, and these characters must meet specific spacing and sizing requirements, as well as be raised a certain height from the sign background.

Additionally, the 2010 Standards outline requirements for sign location — which depends on the type of door it’s near — as well as sign height. Signs must be mounted so that the lowest tactile character on a sign is at least 48" off the ground, and the highest tactile character is a maximum of 60" off the ground.

“If a blind person is looking for Braille, they know — if they're going along the wall — that's about where they're going to be reaching,” says Ray Weiss, vice president of eLearning and Certifications at PRINTING United Alliance. He advises installing signs so that the center is at 54" to make it more likely that all characters will sit within that range.

Importantly, ADA-compliant signs are not just for the blind.

“In reality, there's a much larger group of people that have very poor eyesight,” Weiss says. “They probably would be legally blind, but they can see some.”

Braille must be used for signs indicating permanent locations, such as a bathroom or conference hall. | Credit: Mimaki USA

The guidelines in place to help this subsection of the population include avoiding highly reflective backgrounds, using easily legible (i.e., sans serif) typefaces such as Arial and Helvetica, and maintaining an optimal contrast ratio. ADA Standards have historically indicated a 70% contrast ratio, but the International Code Council — which concerns itself with building safety and standards on a global scale — proposed changes for its 2025 A117.1 standard that would require a 65% contrast ratio.

“There's got to be a huge contrast between the text and the background to make it really stand out,” Weiss says, “because if you're somebody that struggles to see, you can't have the background and the text very close [in color] to each other, because it might all blend in.”

Printing Braille Versus Braille Dots

One of the first decisions to make when getting into ADA signage is whether you’ll invest in Braille dot equipment or a printer with UV ink, which, Weiss explains, is the only kind of ink that can be layered high enough to create Braille).

“If you print it, then you're printing a whole table at a time, the operator can just walk away, and … on our JFX200, you can fit 35 signs and they can be printed in about an hour and a half,” Gonzalez says. That’s compared with the hour it may take for an operator to create a single sign with Braille dots from start to finish.

While it may be more time-efficient to print Braille, Weiss emphasizes the importance of doing research on your local regulations, as they may be more — but never less — rigid than what’s required federally.

“Let's say I'm in Virginia — it might even be in the county that I'm in — I want to make sure I know what their requirements are because the proposal might say ‘Must use Braille dots,’ in which case you can't say, ‘Well, I'm going to substitute my UV print, then I'll do a sample for [the customer] and see,’” Weiss explains. “If they said Braille dots, it's got to be Braille dots.”

Additionally, Weiss notes that it’s more likely that printed Braille will be knocked off than Braille dots, which hampers the durability of any signage you’re creating.

Tools and Resources for ADA Signage

To create ADA signage, you’ll need to have a combination of certain machines, software, and materials. As already discussed, you may have the option in your area to use a printer rather than a Braille dot machine.

Canon USA offers its Arizona line of flatbed printers, as well as the PRISMAguide XL and PRISMAelevate XL software solutions for designing signage with ADA guidelines in mind. Specifically, PRISMAelevate creates tactile print, and PRISMAguide helps PSPs manage design and workflow.

“They allow us to create powerful design workflows … and it's easy for PSPs to use for preparation, for creating multilayered prints such as double-sided applications, and high-quality print files,” Akerele says.

Mimaki provides the UJF flatbed printer series — which is on the smaller end — as well as the medium-format JFX200 flatbed printer and a new CFX cutter.
“We do have a lot of physical equipment, but part of that physical equipment is the ink,” Gonzalez adds. “We offer LH-100 ink, which is a rigid ink [with] high scratch resistance, high solvent resistance. This is needed because the signs are going to be touched, and they're going to need to be sanitized. Having that specialized ink for this allows us to create a high cleaner-resistant sign so that it doesn't wear away so easily.”

Mimaki also offers a prepress design software that communicates with the RIP.

“It tells our RIP what portions are going to be raised and in what colors and things like that,” Gonzalez says.

On the installation side of things, Weiss says that you’d be hard pressed to have a customer install an ADA sign your company produces themselves. Instead, that responsibility would fall to you as a provider — or you could connect with an installer to get the job done.

PRINTING United Alliance keeps track of installers certified for ADA signage within its Membership Directory. If you’d rather install the signage yourself, iLEARNING+ offers “PDAA Rigid Signage Certification (Prework),” which, among other things, offers guidance for installing ADA signage.

Weiss also points to physical tools like sign setters — which ensure that the sign is placed according to ADA Standards — and laser levels.

If you have a potential ADA job coming up and you’re looking to invest in some equipment, Weiss says it’s wise to do your due diligence first and foremost so you don’t sink money into something you can’t use.

“If it were me, I would have the manufacturer that I'm thinking about buying a printer from do a little sample for me, and then I would take it to my customer,” Weiss says, “because the last thing I want to do is buy a printer that says it can [meet the requirements], and I take the product to the customer and they go, ‘Yeah, no, that's not going to work,’ … and the only way I can do it is to go buy a Braille dot machine. Suddenly, I’m in for more money and I’m not making the money I was planning on.”