Advance Corporation provided these signs for the Dozier Centre for Performing Arts, Marietta, Ga, an intimate venue for concerts, musicals and drama events.

Every sign shop, large or small, in a big city or a small town, will occasionally receive requests for ADA compliant signs for some of their customers. Chances are good that you have been asked to provide at least the most commonly needed restroom, elevator, and stair ID signs, sometimes in a hurry so that a building can pass final inspection. A well-planned interior sign program must include signs with Braille designating permanent rooms, public access areas, and escape routes so that visually impaired visitors are able to find their way.

 

But just slapping some Braille on the bottom of a sign is not enough to make it compliant, and even the method of creating the Braille is critical in fabricating a sign that will be durable, attractive and, most importantly, reADAble and functional for the visually impaired. Federal ADA guidelines are complicated, detailed and constantly updated, and some states add their own requirements above and beyond the national standard. Keeping up with the regulations can be a daunting task, almost as difficult as finding your way through an unfamiliar building in the dark.

 

Fortunately, there are a lot of options available for sign makers to incorporate ADA signs into their product offerings without necessarily investing a great deal of time or money into the project. There are several wholesale manufacturers who have done the research and developed the fabrication methods, and will advise you on the best way to incorporate Braille signs into your sign program. There are many different stock signs available in a wide variety of formats, colors and materials to fill an immediate need. 

 

If you want to increase your profit margin by producing larger volumes of ADA signs in-house, there are several kinds of machinery designed to create raised lettering and Braille text on a wide range of substrates. The market is huge, and all public buildings are required to comply with at least the minimum guidelines, so every sign shop has the opportunity to get their fingers on a piece of the ADA market.

 

The equipment and supplies provided by Ikonics Imaging will allow you to produce your own dimensional and ADA compliant signs in-house.

The methods of ADA fabrication include molded plastic, etched metal, sandblasted, photopolymer, engraved/embossed, and Raster beads. Each method has its pros and cons, but the end result must meet the basic requirements of ADA regulations. Failure to do so could result in a failed inspection and rejected signs being replaced at the sign maker’s expense.

 

The basic regulations are described in the document pictured below, courtesy of Signs of Our Times, a wholesale ADA signage provider based in Roseville, Calif. Most wholesale manufacturers provide similar helpful information, but it is important to check your state and local codes for additional requirements.  

For an overview of the industry, I spoke with three wholesale ADA manufacturers; Century Sign Builders, Signs of Our Times, and Advance Corp., plus Ikonics Imaging, which manufactures photo resist film and equipment for sandblasting ADA signs, and Duxbury Systems, offering Braille translation software applicable for anyone needing to create Braille in 130 different languages.

 

Century Sign Builders is a woman-owned firm of environmental graphic designers, project managers and fabricators who have been helping people get where they want to go since 1975. They offer several standard designs that can be fabricated to order, in custom colors if needed, and will work with clients to incorporate ADA signs into a proposed sign program, matching materials and finishes to the specs provided. The Braille text can be applied to a wide variety of substrates by drilling tiny holes and inserting Raster Braille beads. 

 

They offer ADA signs to the retail market as well, with a $250 minimum order, and a 40 percent discount to wholesalers. Exterior durability is achieved by using 1/8" Rowmark exterior rated material. Typical production time for a custom order is about three weeks, once the design has been finalized. They offer advice on ADA compliance, and use their leverage as members of the Society of Environmental Graphic Designers to influence changes in ADA laws toward more practical real-life applications.

 

Signs of Our Times began as a traditional sign shop back in 1981, with emphasis on architectural and interior sign projects, becoming experts in ADA products and compliance issues in 1991 with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

 

They now manufacture all of their ADA signs to order, using Raster Braille in combination with both interior and exterior grade Rowmark Ultramatte material applied to a wide variety of substrates, including Corian, Chemetals, green-edged acrylic and textured aluminum. They will produce Braille strips that can be applied to existing materials, but caution that signs must have both raised letters and domed Braille to be compliant. Their minimum order is $20, with a flat shipping rate of $8 regardless of the size of the order. They sell only to wholesalers, who add a markup of 35% to 100%, depending on what their local market will bear.

 

ADA signs can be creative and dynamic. (Photo courtesy of Signs of Our Times)

It is one of their top priorities to educate clients about ADA compliance, and correct some of the misinformation and misconceptions that are out there. They offer basic written guidelines on their website, and clients can call in for answers to questions or assistance with a specific situation. Typical production time for a custom order is eight to 10 working days, though larger or more complex jobs will take longer.

 

Advance Corporation was established in 1941 and has carried on the family tradition for three generations, developing a special engraving process that would be the catalyst for entrance into and the eventual transformation of the award market. In 1990, they formed the Braille-Tac Division and began manufacturing architecturally designed interior and exterior wayfinding sign systems and both standard and custom ADA-compliant signs.

 

They offer a wide range of manufacturing techniques, including interior and exterior grade photopolymer, chemically etched magnesium and zinc, engraving and Raster Braille on a variety of substrates, and injected molded plastic stock ADA signs. They collaborate with designers, architects and sign makers to design and fabricate a sign program to fit the budget, from basic compliance to unique and creative works of art.

 

They will also make Braille strips that can be applied to existing materials, with the same caveat that Braille alone will not make a sign compliant. If that is all that a client can afford, however, it is a temporary solution that is preferable to no Braille at all. 

 

Many sign companies can produce the signs with raised letters, but don’t have the capability to generate Braille, so Advance Corp will provide the necessary text in either clear plastic, painted plastic, or painted metal with an adhesive back. When handling this kind of product, it is important to clearly indicate the copy and the orientation to ensure that the Braille is applied right side up and on the correct sign.

 

They sell only to the wholesale market, with a $45 minimum order. They strive to keep pricing competitive so that resellers can offer a reasonable resale price, and have noticed in recent years that their clients are required to validate the product cost and are reducing their profits to stay within their customers’ budgets. More recently, they find themselves providing several proposals for the same project—including value engineering services. This kind of detailed communication brings them closer to their customers, helping them understand their needs better and improve their product so that the designer and the end user will ultimately feel good about their purchase.

 

Typical production time for an order is eight to 10 working days. A custom sign program of 200-300 signs might take 10-15 working days, and a very large or unusually complicated order might take four weeks. The first question they ask is when the order must be delivered, and design and materials are often chosen based on the production time requirements.

 

For an even easier solution, signmojo.com from Intersign Corp. offers a program to allow your customers to order their ADA signs directly from your website. The signs are produced by signmojo, with a nice check coming back your way in exchange for the business.

 

For the sign shop that wants to get into the fabrication side of the market, there are quite a few suppliers of machinery and software that will allow you to bring ADA fabrication in-house, and potentially provide custom-made ADA signs to builders, architects and other sign makers as well.

 

Ikonics Imaging was established in 1952, and offers self-contained sandblasting equipment and the products necessary to create finely detailed, high quality dimensional signs, including interior and exterior durable ADA compliant signs. The equipment promises clean, quiet operation, faithful reproduction of photographic quality and halftones on a variety of substrates, including CrystalEdge Glass and their own sandblastable, routable and laserable IKONMetal. Their systems and products are widely used in the trophy and award, promotional product, monument and sign industries.

 

Duxbury Systems has been specializing in Braille translation software since 1975, developing the first commercial Braille translator. They are now the largest Braille translation company in the world, making it possible to provide textbooks, tactile keyboards and readers, and of course, signs.

 

The software is compatible with Windows Vista and Windows 7, with Mac OSX compatibility in development. It can import files from Word, WordPerfect, HTML, XML and other formats, supports translation from 50 languages, with an update to 130 languages coming out soon. Most manufacturers of ADA fabrication equipment incorporate Duxbury’s software into their systems, with updates installed several times a year.

 

A sign company that regularly designs or manufactures ADA signs would benefit from having a Braille translator available to incorporate into their sign design from the beginning so that they would know the size and correct placement of the Braille, and print out the sign layouts for verification of accuracy.

 

A variety of equipment for engraving, laser cutting, photopolymer, metal etch and sandblasting ADA signs are available from companies such as Gravograph, Vision, Roland, U-marq, Nova Polymers, Anderson & Vreeland, Bell Co and many others. Just as with any equipment purchase, considerable research and comparison is necessary before making the commitment. You can get a feel for the materials and methods available by working with one of the many wholesale manufacturers to produce a successful tactile sign program or two, and find out whether the ADA market is the way for you. 

 

This summary of ADA regulations from the Signs of Our Times website is typical of the kind of assistance offered by most of the wholesale ADA manufacturers.