In that constant search to find new avenues of business, many sign shops may have considered the specialized world of ADA-regulated building signage for blind and the visually impaired. After all, with every private and public building requiring Braille-engraved signage – and thus the potential for recurring jobs as buildings are updated and expanded, or company logos and even personnel change – it might seem like an ideal avenue for a properly equipped and enterprising sign professional.
在不断寻找新业务途径的过程中，许多标识商铺可能已经考虑到，为盲人和视力受损者专门设计制作符合ADA管制的建筑标识。毕竟，所有私人和公共建筑都需要雕刻盲文的标识来起到指引的作用，这对配备齐全、有进取心的标识专业制作商或许是一个理想的选择。
Fair warning, however: Federal, state and local regulations stemming from the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act mean that rules for Braille-engraved materials, design and installation are considerably denser and more detailed than your standard banner, P.O.P. or other cabinet sign project.
然而，郑重警告：依据1990年美国残疾人法案，联邦、州和地方法规对雕刻盲文的材料、设计和安装都有明确的规定，并且比标准横幅、P.O.P.或其他灯箱标识的规定更严谨、更详细。
It’s a complex subject, with ever-changing requirements, but experts suggest it can be a profitable enterprise if you can master the niche. And, most importantly, if you successfully negotiate the real costs of outsourcing production and componentry of specialized braille signage versus purchasing your own equipment to make new signs – especially as a newcomer to the business.
这是一个复杂的、需求不断变化的领域，但是专家称，如果你能掌握该市场发展规律，那么它也会是一个有利可图的行业。同时，最重要的是，你要了解外包生产和专用盲文标识元件的真正成本，与你要购买的制作新标识的设备成本，尤其是对刚进入该领域的新人来说。
The biggest recommendation for first-timers? Do your homework, and talk with some suppliers, experts and even other sign companies who’ve done work in the ADA/Braille world, says Emily Cordes, fabrication and product manager for Ohio’s Rowmark, which manufactures plastics for compliant signage.
对新人最好的推荐？Ohio’s Rowmark是生产用于制作盲文标识塑料的公司，其制作产品经理艾米丽·科德斯说：做你自己的项目，与一些供应商、专家甚至其他做过ADA盲文标识的公司进行沟通交流。
“Whether it’s attending a trade show or attending a seminar, taking the time to educate yourself on local laws, regulations and technology is invaluable,” she says. “Sign shops are in a great position to offer ADA-compliant signage because they have the necessary equipment and materials as well as the customer base to which these products are marketed.”
她说：“无论是参加贸易展览还是研讨会，花时间学习地区法律、条例和技术是非常重要的。标识商铺在制作ADA标识方面处于有利地位，因为他们拥有必要的设备和材料，以及销售这些产品的客户群。”
Cordes encourages would-be ADA/Braille signmakers to dig around on the web for both official government resources (we’ve attached some at the end of this story) as well as industry websites and information on technology showcases – all good references to help you gauge the complexity associated with the ADA/Braille business. Customers, she suggests, are plentiful, including many of the same folks you already serve for other signage needs.
科德斯鼓励潜在的ADA盲文标识制作商，在网络上搜罗官方政府资源以及行业网站和信息技术展示等等，这些优质资源都会帮你衡量ADA盲文标识业务的复杂性。同时她也提到，盲文标识的客户群也是很丰富的，其中包括许多有其他类型标识需求的客户在内。
“That same loyal customer who has been purchasing corporate awards or informational signs more than likely has a public building where ADA-compliant signs are required by law,” she says. “The key is to offer branding into the overall signage plan for environmental spaces. Working with architects and designers to specify your specific sign designs can also give you a leading edge versus the many pre-fabricated options available on the market.”
她说：“法律规定，赢得企业奖或情报标识的忠实客户，更有可能拥有需要ADA盲文标识的公共建筑。关键是要将品牌融入到整个环境标识规划中。与市场上许多预先制定的方案相比，和建筑师、设计师一起探讨详细的标识设计方案，能够让你处于行业发展的前沿。”
Sharon Toji, president of Access Communications and ADA Sign Products, a consultant and provider of ADA products, also suggests due diligence on the part of aspiring sign-making folks.
ADA标识制作公司董事长莎伦·托吉也建议将预期注意事项做为标识制作商工作的一部分。
“For the most part, most people don’t have a clue about how people with visual impairments or the blind actually go about reading signs,” she says. “So when they begin making signs, they sometimes try to follow the rules, but don’t really understand the rules or the nuances.”
她说：“大多数情况下，很多人都不了解视觉受损者或盲人如何识别标识，因此当他们开始制作标识时，就只是遵照规则去做，但是他们实际上并不理解这些规则或细微差别。”
As federal regulations morphed between the initial adoption of the ADA and refined legislation in 2010, Toji and other industry representatives offered their perspective on making that onerous set of rules a little more sign-maker friendly, but she says she was disappointed by the results.
在2010年将联邦条例从最初的ADA制作规则修订为完善的立法时，托吉和其他行业代表都提出了他们的观点，使得繁琐的制作规则对标识制作商更有利，但是她表示，结果非常令人失望。
“People always said, ‘well, why didn’t you tell me that in the rules,’ and we would say, ‘how thick do you want the rulebook to be?’” Toji notes. “In the end, we tried to write a prescriptive sign-making guide, but the feds took those regulations and said, ‘this is way too long,’ and smooshed it all together. I think they actually made it more difficult.”
托吉说：“人们常说，‘你怎么不在规则里写清楚呢？’我们就回答，‘你想要规则手册变得多厚啊？’最后，我们试图编写一个规范的标识制作指南，但是联邦政府觉得太长，就将其修订整合在一起。我觉得他们会将其变得更加难以理解。”
Despite the regulatory hurdles, Kathy Wilson, VP of sales and marketing with Minnesota’s Advance Corp., a major wholesaler of ADA-compliant signage, equipment and production supplies, says there are still plenty of opportunities in the field.
明尼苏达州ADA标识、设备和产品批发商Advance Corp.公司的营销副总裁凯西·威尔逊说，尽管该行业在监管方面存在一些问题，但是仍然有大量的发展机会。
“Would I personally invest in this sort of niche? I would go running to this. We make buildings better, and we help everyone navigate more easily,” she says. “While the federal law is very stable, it’s the local and state regulations that can be complicated, and that used to mean more controversy in states like Texas and California – that’s kind of a scare for a lot of people. Now I would say it’s very easy to get information and get all the resources required – you just have to know how to do it right.”
她说：“你问我会在这个市场进行投资吗？我想我会的。我们让建筑变得更完善，帮助人们更便利地出行。虽然联邦法律非常健全，但是地区和州的条例却很复杂，很多人都担心德克萨斯州和加利福尼亚等州会出现条例上的争议。现在我想说的是，你只要知道如何做是正确的，那么获取信息和所有必需的资源就会很容易。”
Wilson says that a solid business plan is critical to figure out the real costs of either purchasing equipment yourself or outsourcing production to a wholesaler, combined with some realistic expectations about potential growth.
威尔逊说，一份可靠的业务规划结合你对潜在业务增长的期望是至关重要的，它能帮你计算出自己购买设备或外包给批发商生产的真正成本。
“You probably already have a client list that’s suitable, and the sign guy is always the go-to guy. But how much time does it take to make, or order signs?” Wilson says. “What kind of margins will you see? And what about installing? That can be tricky, especially if you’re a company that’s just done banners or traditional signage. You also have to think about deadlines. How will you get those 800 compliant signs you’ve promised out the door, without having everyone in the shop work on them at the same time? You don’t want to jeopardize your other commitments.”
威尔逊说：“你或许已经有了合适的客户名单，那么接下来标识制作商就是关键人物了。但是需要多长时间来制作标识呢？你会获得多少利润呢？安装方案呢？这些可能会非常棘手，特别是在你的公司刚刚完成制作横幅或传统标识项目的时候。你还要考虑到最后期限，当你公司的员工不能同时做这个项目时，你如何在规定期限内完成你承诺的800个盲文标识？你一定不想食言吧。”
For those wanting to produce material themselves, Rowmark’s Cordes says the most important equipment consideration is a rotary engraver, which mechanically carves the images and words into plastics or other substrates suitable for signage.
Rowmark公司科德斯说，对于那些想要自己生产材料的厂商来说，最重要的设备就是一台旋转式雕刻机，可以将图像或文字雕刻到适用于制作标识的塑料或其他基板上。
“With a rotary engraver, you can cut out all of your materials and prepare the sign for Braille – there are small tabletop models all the way to large-format options, so the investment can vary widely based on the size and type of rotary device you choose,” she says.
她说：“用旋转式雕刻机可以切割所有材料，为制作盲文标识做好准备工作。这种旋转式设备的尺寸有大有小，因此你可以根据你选择的旋转式设备的尺寸和类型进行适当的投资。”
As a very specialized solution, Braille signage can also be made with an automated system called the Raster sphere device, which mounts on a router/engraver to dispense and insert tiny raised metal dots to create Braille letters. Alternately, Cordes says some engravers choose to engrave the holes with a specialized bit and then apply the dot-like spheres with a Raster pen device, though it requires the purchase of a license.
盲文标识也可以由一个叫做光栅球体装置的自动化系统制作而成，它是被安装在雕刻机上，然后将微型凸起金属点按规律嵌入以形成盲文。科德斯说，有些雕刻机能够刻出专业的小孔，然后用光栅设备将球形小点嵌入在小孔内。
Cordes says new UV-LED printers are also offering the flexibility to produce contoured and engraved Braille products in a non-mechanical way.
科德斯说，新型UV-LED喷印机也能通过无机械方式灵活地生产波形雕刻盲文产品。
“One of the most innovative features of UV-LED printing technology is its unique ability to create raised or textured images and shapes, including ADA-compliant Braille,” she adds. “As the ink does not absorb into the substrate, it gets higher with continual passes of the print head. Creating signage (this way) saves significant time, with less manual work and less steps involved.”
她补充道：“其中一种最新颖的UV-LED喷印技术拥有创建独特凸起或织纹图像和形状的能力，包括制作ADA盲文标识。由于油墨融不进基质内，因此它就会随着喷头的不断传递获得更高的过渡效果。这种制作标识的方法可以节约宝贵的时间，减少人力劳动且制作程序更简便。”
And then there’s the issue of materials, which have to conform to ADA-compliant color choices. Rowmark has added its own photoluminescent acrylic products for safety and egress signage; design must be balanced out with the rules at every step of the process.
对于制作标识的材料，必须要符合ADA标识颜色的选择。Rowmark公司增加了荧光亚克力产品用于制作安全出口标识；设计方案也必须与整个制作过程每一步规则相平衡。
Wilson says some newcomers quickly discover that the ADA-compliant sign-making business is not quite the turn-key operation they’d hoped it would be, as they haven’t considered the bigger business plans necessary to make a go of it.
威尔逊说，一些新的厂商很快就会发现，ADA标识制作业务与他们期望中的统包工程并不相同。
“People buy an engraver and then it’s up for sale next year, and they tell me, ‘I didn’t have any more work,’” she says. “That’s a mistake. But I see a lot of idle equipment – there’s a flood of equipment on the market right now. Some of that has to do with format restrictions, as a machine from five years ago can’t handle some of the same products, when now you can get a better price for a larger, faster machine with better yields.”
她说：“很多人购买了一台雕刻机，第二年就转卖给别人，然后他们告诉我，‘我没有那么多业务可做了。’这是一个错误的观点。但是我发现目前的市场上确实有很多闲置设备，其中有些设备是在格式上存在限制从而被闲置不用，例如一台机器五年前就处理不了一些相同的产品，而现在你可以以更优惠的价格买到一台更大、更快、更高产的设备。”
Instead, going the wholesale route and outsourcing production can be an easier entry point into the business, though Wilson cautions aspiring sign shops to get samples, ask for references and do some investigating when lining up wholesale services.
相反地，走批发路线和外包生产途径可以更容易地进入该领域，尽管威尔逊警告标识商铺在做批发服务之前，先观察其样品、寻求参考信息以及做一些市场调研。
“Find out if a wholesaler or retailer is limited in the kinds of options they have for materials, processes and service – can they provide a la carte componentry, and can you find one that does all the work you need?” she explains. “If you have a client who says they need compliant signs, a company like ours can help – we already do it, we deal with the regulations and we can help them walk through it. We can give you some links, some samples and some images of signage and you can take them to your next meeting.”
她解释说：“弄清楚批发商或零售商有限的材料种类、流程和服务——他们能提供元件列表吗？你能找到满足你所有需求的批发商吗？如果你有一个需要盲文标识的客户，那么你就可以选择像我们这样的公司来做——因为我们做过这类项目，也非常了解制作规则。我们可以提供一些标识链接、样品和图像给你，你可以把它们带到下次讨论会议中。”
Whether you opt to equip yourself to produce your own materials or work instead with a wholesaler, Wilson says the biggest boon is the potential for repeat work once you build that client base.
威尔逊说，无论你选择自己生产标识材料还是与批发商合作生产，最大的好处就是一旦你建立客户基础之后，这些工作就会变得简单而顺利。
“The great thing is that this is business that can continuously repeat over time with the same clients – they’re going to need logo updates and such as they go along,” she says.
她说：“值得一提的是，这是可以随时间推移不断重复相同客户业务的项目——在他们公司的发展进程中，一定需要进行标识更新等工作。”
