Tactile Characters
- Extruded Height – Tactile characters shall be raised 1/32 inch (0.8 mm) minimum above the background.
- Font and Style – Characters shall be sans serif. Characters shall not be italic, oblique, script, highly decorative, or of other unusual forms.
- Case – All tactile signs must be UPPERCASE. Signs that provide direction or information about a functional space and overhead signs may use Upper and Lower Case letters.
- Text Height – The uppercase letter “I” shall be used to determine the allowable height of all characters of a font. The allowable height is between 5/8” and 2”.
- Text Width – The width of the uppercase letter “O” can be 55 percent minimum and 110 percent maximum of the height of the uppercase letter “I”.
- Text Stroke – Stroke Width shall be 15% or Less of “I” Height.
- Character Spacing – Minimum character spacing is 1/8th inch and a maximum of 4 times the character stroke width. The distance is measured between the closest points of each adjacent character.1/16 space with beveled edge
- Finish and Contrast – Characters and their background shall have a non-glare Characters shall contrast with their background with either light characters on a dark background or dark characters on a light background.
Braille Text
- Braille Text Placement – shall be separated 3/8 inch (9.5 mm) minimum from any other tactile characters and 3/8 inch (9.5 mm) minimum from raised borders and decorative elements.
- Dot Base Diameter – Shall be .059” – .063”
- Dot Height – Shall be .025” – .037”
- Braille Bead Distances – USA Grade II Braille shown below. Bead distance varies between US standard and California standard braille
Pictograms – Pictograms shall have a field height of 6 inches (150 mm) minimum. Characters and braille shall not be located in the pictogram field.
Author:
Zachary Houser
References:
https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/2010ADAStandards/2010ADAStandards.pdf
http://www.accentsignage.com/wp-content/uploads/ADA-Quick-Reference.pdf
http://www.engraversjournal.com/article.php/2306/
https://www.apcosigns.com/techpdf/ADAHandout.pdf