Avery Dennison, Direct Color Systems Collaborate on Braille Signage

At ISA Sign Expo 2019, Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions has announced a collaboration program with Direct Color Systems® (DCS), a leading manufacturer of small-format UV-LED inkjet printers. The collaboration will combine Avery Dennison’s films with DCS’s patented printing process to enable customers to quickly and economically create braille signage that is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“Today, when it comes to producing ADA-compliant braille signs, customers either go through a complicated and costly engraving process or have to purchase a limited range of expensive rigid substrates that may present printing and durability challenges over time,” said Paul Roba, OEM Relationships Manager, Avery Dennison Graphic Solutions. “This new collaboration between Avery Dennison Graphic Solutions and DCS will enable more customers to experience the leading durability and cost-effectiveness of Avery Dennison films, a solution previously unavailable to these applications. Ultimately, the result will benefit the blind who read braille and help those who are visually impaired more easily read important information by touch.”

The versatile Direct Jet 1800z, 7200z, and the new 1800BG Braille and Graphics UV LED printers from DCS — typically used for 2D output but which can also handle 3D printing —can be used to create ADA-compliant braille signage on a variety of substrates. DCS manufactures braille sign printers that offer customers the unprecedented option of either first-surface or second-surface graphics when creating raised-texture signage on acrylic substrates. Standard six-by-eight-inch signs can be output in less than four minutes, with a full digitally printed background, raised letters and braille dots.

“Our collaboration program with Avery Dennison Graphic Solutions will greatly widen the capabilities of our patented printing process and offer customers a new and cost-effective way to create signage compliant with federal ADA guidelines,” said Blair Allen, President of DCS. “I look forward to launching our first solutions together soon. Through this relationship, we believe we will deliver the most innovative sign printing solution on the market today.”

Both Avery Dennison Graphic Solutions and DCS are exhibiting at ISA 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada, starting April 24, 2019, in booths 1535 and 2425, respectively.