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ADA Sig­nage: 3 Ways to Enhance ADA Signage

ADA Sig­nage may be the most basic or vanil­la” of signs. Here a few of our design­ers share their favorite ways to enhance even the most basic of ADA signs.

From Bor­ing to Bril­liant: 3 Ways to Gussy Up ADA Signage

ADA Sig­nage may be the most basic or vanil­la” of signs. Here a few of our design­ers share their favorite ways to enhance even the most basic of ADA signs. 

ADA Light

1.Use light to pro­vide design: Clear acrylics add dimen­sion to ADA Signage.

By using a thick­er acrylic with pol­ished edges and paint­ing the back of the sign, light is able to come through the sides and pro­vide dimen­sion. Applied ADA let­ter­ing casts a shad­ow part­nered with the back paint (aka sub­sur­face or 2nd sur­face) and the thick­er the acrylic the more the shad­ow. It’s a classy touch that works well with mat­te or satin fin­ish which are need­ed to meet ADA Guidelines.

Bruce Leasure, Designer

Personally, I like a 3/8" (or thicker) P-95 acrylic sign face with 2nd surface paint and 1st surface graphics/copy. It makes a nice subtle drop shadow on the painted surface, and just looks sharp. Pair that with a custom aluminum accent or a custom shaped panel, and it’s just perfection.

2.Back that thing up: Add a backer to an ADA Sign.

Adding a backer can give some unique­ness and it’s a great way to tie in design ele­ments through­out a facil­i­ty. From an archi­tec­tur­al shape present in the design to a unique col­or or pat­tern to help the sign pop, or com­pli­ment the design.

Ashley LaRue, Designer

I like using custom shapes and acrylics as backers with ADA signs as an accent. Even using an undersized backer where the ADA portion looks as though it is floating is also a nice subtle way to bring more design into a simple sign.

3.Unique mate­ri­als add to great design: Inter­est­ing graph­ics, pan­els, or lam­i­nate can do a lot.

Graph­ics them­selves have come so far in just the last few years. Design­ing and print­ing cus­tom back­grounds make both for an inter­est­ing sign and tie in with the over­all facil­i­ty design. Lam­i­nates are also very ver­sa­tile and plen­ti­ful in options. Use lam­i­nates for the backer, the sign, or a sim­ple accent and goes a long way in adding just the right amount of spiff to the sign. Pho­topoly­mer that uses 3Form designs is always a sol­id option. New to the mix are wrapped lam­i­nates called foils” that give the sign tex­ture with a fin­ished edge. These are all great ways to gussy up a sim­ple ADA sign.

Terri Leedom, Designer

I really like using subtle subsurface patterns or nature graphics. Nature is always calming and ideal for facilities like hospitals or care centers.

Where to Start?

There are mil­lions of options for great ADA Sig­nage. Most impor­tant­ly is to work with a trust­ed part­ner who is an expert in ADA guide­lines and the para­me­ters around accept­able design, acces­si­bil­i­ty, and prop­er installation. 

Want to learn more about options for ADA Sig­nage or see some sam­ples? Find a sign expert that can help you do just that. 

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