One of the more overlooked elements of making religious facility signs compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is sufficient color contrast. Sufficient color contrast is critical when it comes to making a sign visible and legible to as many members of a religious congregation as possible. Color contrast in this case is contextualized from the perspective of those who are legally visually impaired. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 33% of U.S. congregations are comprised of those aged 65 or older. For most religions in the U.S., this increases to over 40% when grouping in those 50 and older. Age itself does not constitute a disability, but as many people age, their vision greatly deteriorates. They may also develop certain cognitive disabilities, necessitating an acute understanding of contrast perception by sign designers.
As reported by the American Foundation for the Blind, eye problems begin to increase tremendously after the age of 65. Thus, for churches and religious facilities that have a large number of elderly congregants, it’s critical to have signage that accommodates their visual and cognitive abilities. The biggest hurdle with this is that the signage industry maintains a sense of confusion over what the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (SfAD) actually require. Therefore, it’s important to compare and contrast the old and new SfAD, offering a more concise understanding of what works best for your religious facility.
Is Signage Color Contrast Required by the ADA?
The ADA was signed into law in 1990, with the first edition of the SfAD adopted shortly thereafter. This 1991 edition was fairly lenient when it came to the contrast issue. For instance, the contrast ratio calculation outlined in the 1991 Standards stood as a recommendation, not a mandate. Besides a non-glare finish, characters were merely required to contrast with a light background on dark background or vice versa. Consequently, the discretionary 70% minimum contrast rating became the default method of judging whether an interior sign offered enough contrast to legally be accessible.
The current SfAD does away with the previous version’s attached appendix that offered guidance on sufficient contrast. Even though the 2010 SfAD is overall a much better version, now the language only states, “Characters and their background shall have a non-glare finish. Characters shall contrast with their background with either light characters on a dark background or dark characters on a light background,” with no advice on how to achieve the proper contrast. Without the proper criterion, the concept of light-on-dark or dark-on-light is hard to quantify. As vague as this language is, one way to apply this information is to read the rule in its strictest form, which means to utilize the most opposing colors within your design scheme.
How to Ensure Color Contrast for Your Signs
While this may leave you with fewer color options, taking this approach will certainly ensure that your religious facility’s signage is visually accessible for all who enter. Also consider applying a sort of “balancing test” to the design by selecting light and dark colors, calculating the contrast percentage, comparing it against grayscale, and choosing the scheme with the highest contrast factor. The 2010 SfAD advisory opinion suggests “characters contrast as much as possible with their background.” A 70% contrast factor should stand as the minimum threshold, and getting at least this level of contrast is a matter of the law. As several other factors will influence this calculation, using multiple assessments is truly the better practice.
If you’re still uncertain of how to ensure ADA-compliant signage for your religious building, INTERSIGN is here to help. When you customize and order signs through us, our website will automatically filter your color options upon choosing one color. This guarantees that your signs’ background colors and text colors are perfectly balanced, allowing for all of your congregation members to read them. For this and all other signage needs, visit INTERSIGN today.
Comments are closed.