Looking to install ADA signs in your office building? Make sure you aware of the ADA signage requirements.
The American Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 aims to protect disabled Americans by providing them access to resources available to abled people. The law applies to signage, requiring businesses to follow certain requirements when creating signs.
Signs depicting your company logo or name, temporary signs, and signs meant for advertising don’t have to meet the ADA sign requirements. However, way-finding and navigational signs must be ADA compliant.
If you don’t comply with ADA requirements when designing your signs, you can face hefty fines or even business closure. To help you out, we have mentioned the ADA sign requirements below:
Character Properties
ADA has been very particular about the character properties required for ADA signage. It states that raised characters must be upper case, and free of oblique, italic or scrip characters. They must also be sans serif and be raised at least 1/32” from the background. The heights of the raised characters should be between 5/8 inch and 2 inches.
Placed directly below the corresponding text, the characters must also be accompanied by Grade 2 Braille dots, which should be rounded or domed, not squared or flat. The minimum space between Braille dots and raised text and objects should be at least 3/8 inch.
Braille dots and raised characters are not required in overhead and projection mounted signs. However, for these signs, the design of the characters should meet the required viewing distance. You can use both upper and lower-case characters for these signs. For overhead signs, a character height of at least 2 inches is necessary.
Positioning and Mounting Height
Place door signs with raised characters on the wall next to the latch side of the door.
The distance between the baseline of the raised characters and the finished floor must be between 48 inches and 60 inches.
The sign should be positioned such that a clear floor space is present beyond the arc of the door. The space between the bottom of an overhead sign and the finished floor must be at least 80 inches.
A projection mounted sign that extends 4 inches from the wall must also possess a clearance of 80 inches from the finished floor to the bottom of the sign.
Finish
Both characters and the background should have a non-glare finish. Also, there should be a high contrast between the background and the characters. Dark characters should be used on a light background and vice verse.
Pictogram Requirements
Pictograms should be placed in a field area that’s 6 inches high and free of braille dots or raised characters. Any braille dots or text that accompany the pictogram must be positioned right below the pictogram field.
A pictogram must have a contrast with the background and contain a non-glare finish to improve their visibility.
If you want ADA compliant signs for your business, click here.
