ADA signs come with a laundry list of requirements but that doesn’t mean they have to be dull.

New substrates, colors and manufacturing techniques have all made the making of required ADA signage creative and fun.

“ADA signage has come a long way from its origins as being very utilitarian. Designers and sign makers alike now incorporate ADA-compliant signage as part of their larger signage vision,” says Kristin Kachur, marketing and publications coordinator for Rowmark. “Customers can decorate ADA-compliant materials through digital printing, custom painting and full-color sublimation. There are now so many different colors, substrates and mounting hardware that can be used while still remaining compliant, not to mention a variety of signage shapes, sizes and dimensions, and this has opened up a lot of creative possibilities.”

Scott Bigelow, president of Signs of Our Times Inc., a wholesale ADA Braille sign manufacturer based outside of Sacramento, California, admits that the trend in ADA signage is moving to digital, but it is not his favorite.

“I’d rather work with real materials vs. printing ink on substrate and calling it a sign. For a yard sale sign or a billboard, that’s fine. When it comes to interior signs or ADA, I’m looking for something more than a printed sign. More creative. Design is the key to any good sign, especially ADA,” he says.

Signs of Our Times works with clients all across the country. California has the most stringent ADA guidelines by far, Bigelow says.

“The further east you go, the less strict they are about being compliant. They are coming out with machines and processes that make the job easier, faster and cheaper,” he says, but are they compliant?

Some of the newest offerings he saw at a recent Las Vegas trade show included 3D printed ADA signs. The words were not spaced appropriately and were not the right height, he says.

ADA signs have to have a matte finish, so they are not reflective. The letters and pictograms must stand out in high contrast to the background and they must have braille lettering. Only certain fonts are ADA-compliant and letter height must be between 5/8 of an inch to 2 inches high, depending on sign width and height. Room must be left for a pictogram, like the male and female figures on a restroom sign, and the braille dots have required spacing and size and must be domed or rounded.

 But recently, ADA signs have moved from the mundane to the magnificent. Many designers and architects are leaving traditional square or rectangular signs behind and adding different shapes and unique hardware to attach the signs to walls, says Jessica Heldman-Beck, marketing manager at Rowmark. There are new colors and substrates.

Rowmark manufactures the plastic sheets that are used to make ADA signs. Many designers and architects are gravitating toward cast acrylics for their signage, Kachur says. Rowmark has responded to requests from the industry by developing new substrates that are suitable for ADA and tactile sign making. Its ADA Alternative Applique product comes in 44 colors and ColorHues, which was launched in 2010, comes in 35 colors.

LaserGlow photoluminescent acrylic material allows sign makers to create ADA-compliant safety and egress signage. All of these substrates work with laser and rotary engravers.

One of the latest trends in ADA signage is the use of UV-LED printers. It can save companies a lot of time because there is less manual work and fewer steps involved, according to Rowmark.

GoVivid, Rowmark’s new digital printing division, offers a line of direct-to-substrate UV-LED digital printers that can produce ADA-compliant signage and printed, dimensional Braille.

It can produce raised or textured images and shapes, including Braille. The ink doesn’t absorb into the substrate, so it sits on top of the surface and continually gets higher with continual passes of the printhead. The printer can be used on acrylics, wood, metal, foam board and canvas.

One of the biggest benefits to this technology is that it can produce ADA-compliant signage “on a mass scale without increasing staff size or using more resources,” Kachur says. “You can also dedicate more energy to the creativity, designs and color of the ADA signs, rather than the effort and time it takes to insert the Braille beads.”

Bigelow recognizes that new technologies are making it easier to crank out ADA signs. He still loves the art of it and creating “something that stands out and will be unique.”

His company recently completed a project for a boutique hotel in Alaska.

“Everything had not only the English language but the Inuit language, which was a neat project,” he says.

What was interesting is that room numbers in Inuit are 25 characters long or so, he says. It was a challenge to fit the Inuit words on there and still make the signs attractive and unique. The owners of the hotel wanted each ADA-compliant sign to have its own unique pictograph, which was a major challenge, Bigelow adds.

When he wants to make a project unique, he uses Chemetel, decorative acrylics or wood laminates.

Signs of Our Times made the decision 10 years ago to get into wholesale ADA sign work because “many sign shops didn’t want to deal with it. They didn’t want to buy equipment,” Bigelow says. “We found our niche to do it. Ninety percent of our clients are other sign shops.”

That works out great because Bigelow and his team can focus on the actual work instead of getting the job, sales, installation or trying to get paid. “All the headaches of the business,” he says with a laugh.

“The biggest fear for most people is the laws,” Bigelow says. “They are fairly straightforward, not that complicated. That’s our biggest hurdle is trying to educate our clients about what is compliant and what is not compliant. We offer good resources on our website.”

Bigelow adds that he enjoys focusing on the ADA segment of the sign industry.

“There is a vast market for it,” he says. “On the wholesale level there’s a need for servicing other sign shops.”