EVERYONE’S INVITED

WITH LAURA GRUNFELD

INCLUDING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

GUIDE TO MAKING SIGNS FOR TEMPORARY OUTDOOR EVENTS

Ali McGee (L) and Cheyenne Umbreit (R) are expert sign installers with Deluxe Design, Inc.

Photo by Laura Grunfeld

This week, as I write this, I am preparing signage requests for upcoming events. I bet you are too! Signage is a key form of communication with both your patrons with disabilities and those without disabilities. We want to make sure that our signs are legible, attractive, and that they reflect the aesthetic of the event.

Many of us focus on making sure that the signage directing people to elements of our Access Program is accessible. After all, we want people with low vision to be able to find the accessible entrance, the Access Center, the raised viewing platforms and so forth. Your event may have oodles of services and facilities for your patrons with disabilities but if the location of these services remains a secret, your fans will have a less than wonderful experience, and it is all about fan experience!

What about the rest of your event’s signage? Don’t we want everyone to be able to read the price of lemonade, that you are selling t-shirts, that the water stations are over there, and everything else that you are communicating with your signage?

WHAT IS REQUIRED?

The Guidance on the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, clarifies that temporary “signs used for seven days or less” do not need to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The exception to that is that signs for accessible parking, accessible portable toilets and showers, and points of egress must be visually accessible. Stacy Hart from the New England ADA Center says “However, we would recommend that all signs be visually accessible. After all, you are paying to make the sign anyway. It’s not going to cost you any more to choose a font and contrast that is accessible to everyone.” She said that if the signage is not accessible then the event is still obligated to provide access in another way such as staff assistance. Do you have enough staff to help people if they need it?

In this article we will talk about the factors that the ADA identifies as making signs visually accessible to people with low vision. It just so happens that these are the same things that make the signs easier for everyone to read!

Ultra-ornate fonts, small font sizes, signs installed so low they are covered when someone walks in front of them, little contrast between the lettering and the background, there are all sorts of problems that make signs difficult to read. Let’s make legibility the number one priority when we design our signs.

VISUALLY ACCESSIBLE DESIGN FEATURES:

Style:

• To avoid glare, stay away from shiny surfaces for both the lettering and the background.

• Make the lettering contrast with the background – either light on dark, or dark on light. Typical for signs regarding accessibility is blue lettering on white background or white lettering on blue background. This is not required, however.

• Upper case or lower case or a combination of the two is permissible, although all upper case can be difficult to read when there is a lot of lettering.

• Use a sans serif font. Do not use script, decorative, italic, or other fonts.

• Don’t use especially narrow, fat, tall, or wide lettering.

• Don’t crowd the individual letters or lines nor spread them too far apart.

Positioning:

• To determine the size of the lettering, consider how high the sign is and how far the viewer is from the sign. See Table 703.5.5, “Visual Character Height,” in the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design.

• The bottom line of characters should not be lower than 40” and in our outdoor settings we will usually install signs much higher.

• Because this is an outdoor, temporary event, Braille and raised lettering are not required. However, where there are permanent rooms and spaces in a permanent structure, those guidelines will come into play. For more information about these regulations, refer to the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act Standards, sections 216 and 703.

Tips From the Field:

• A complaint I hear is that the lettering is too small to read. I have especially received complaints about way-finding signage and menu signs on food vendor’s booths but apply this caution to all signs.

• Light lettering on a dark background can often help the sign stand out from a cluttered background.

• An exception to the rule about not using shiny surfaces is with roadside signage. If your event is open after dark, use reflective signs to help drivers find their way.

• Use arrows that are easy to read – many arrows are too short, too skinny, or the pointer tip too hard to see.

• It can be helpful to attach the arrow to the sign with Velcro so that it is easy to change the direction. The direction of the arrow may change from year to year, or the installer may discover a better placement once he or she is on site and needs to change the direction of the arrow. An alternative to using Velcro is to make the sign but leave space for the arrow. Make the arrows out of adhesive vinyl and affix the arrow on site.

• Hang the signs where all patrons can see them. Especially consider the point of view of patrons using wheelchairs, traveling through a crowd with people standing upright all around them and blocking the view. This often means hanging a sign higher than first thought. This instruction may seem obvious, but it is a common mistake and not always easy to accomplish.

• When identifying our accessible portable toilets with the wheelchair symbol, I place a large vinyl adhesive sign, smack dab in the middle of the door, so that the people without disabilities who are standing in line at this accessible toilet because they want to use the larger space, are clear that they are taking advantage of people with disabilities. (See Summer 2019 for my column discussing Accessible Portable Toilets).

• Keep it simple. The fewer words the better. Sometimes all you need is a wheelchair symbol (the universal symbol of accessibility), and maybe an arrow.

• Sarah Presley, Accessibility Specialist with the US Access Board, tells me we should be on the lookout for a new guide about signage that the Board will be publishing soon. https:// www.access-board.gov/

• You’ve got this!

Resources

• 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (See Sections 216 and 703): https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/2010ADAStandards/2010ADAstandards.htm#

• A fascinating read about fonts: https://geniusee.com/single-blog/ font-readability-research-famous-designers-vs-scientists

• Disability Access symbols: https://graphicartistsguild.org/ downloadable-disability-access-symbols/

• A newer wheelchair symbol: https://accessibleicon.org/

Everyone’s Invited, LLC, founded by Laura Grunfeld, is winner of the gold level “Best Accessibility Program,” for the 2018 and 2019 IFEA/Haas & Wilkerson Pinnacle Awards. Laura writes a regular column helping producers make their events accessible to people with disabilities. She has worked many festivals across the nation and readers can learn more about her event accessibility consulting, training, and production company at www.EveryonesInvited.com and www.linkedin.com/in/lauragrunfeld. Suggest topics or ask questions by writing to Laura@EveryonesInvited.com. © Laura Grunfeld, Everyone’s Invited, LLC, April 2022.

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