St. Louis, MO – Avoid the Following Mistakes to Make Your Signs ADA Compliant

Wondering how to create business signs that are ADA compliant? Here are some mistakes that you need to avoid!

ADA stands for the American Disabilities Act, which was passed in 1990. It is a civil rights act that discourages any prejudiced discrimination against disabled people. The ADA shares quite a few similarities with the civil rights act of 1964, which discourages discrimination against an individual based on their color, caste, and gender. The ADA has played a major role in various fields of our lives and continues to play a significant role in business signage.

At times, businesses make basic errors that disqualify their signs from becoming ADA compliant. However, if you simply know what mistakes to avoid, then you can make sure that your signs are ADA compliant.

So, let’s discuss some of the most common ADA sign mistakes that you need to avoid:

Incorrect Font Choice  

Selecting the wrong font for your signs is the first mistake that you can make, which will make your signs non-compliant. The characters on your signage need to be in the sans serif font and the uppercase. They should also be straight and not italic. Furthermore, at times, there are particular restrictions regarding the height and the proportions of the characters, which can lead to a limited number of font choices.

Bad Mounting 

Mounting plays a critical role when it comes to ADA compliant signs. The height of your tactile characters needs to be within the specified range of 48 to 60 inches from the ground up. Any longer or shorter than that and your sign will get disqualified from becoming ADA compliant.

Character Size

Another easily avoidable ADA sign mistake is to choose the wrong character size. Your tactile character size needs to be about 5/8 inch. However, if your sign carries a dual message, then your character size needs to be 5/8th of 2 inches. With that said, in such instances, it’s better to reduce the character size to half an inch.

Wrong Braille Shape

Don’t use square dots in your Braille, instead use domed or rounded dots. As for the spacing between the dots, make sure that you don’t skimp on the specific guidelines as ADA requirements are pretty particular. Moreover, make sure to place the Braille right under the characters.

Bad Spacing  

When making ADA compliant business signs, make sure to pay extra attention to the space between the characters. The standard space between the characters is about 1/8 inch. This specific spacing enables people with weak eyesight to easily read your signs. Even though this spacing will make your characters appear a bit off, it will make your signs more readable.

Make sure to avoid the aforementioned mistakes to make your signs ADA compliant. By following the specific requirements laid out by the ADA, you’ll avoid the risk of getting into any legal trouble.

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