Braille labelling on consumer products
In the Spanish Braille Commission we give advice to companies that label their products in braille in our country. In order To make this possible, we have a document where you can find information on issues to be taken into account when braille is included in packaging.
In the document we explain general issues that may seem obvious to those of us familiar with braille, but which are often unknown to new users of this code.
For example, some people think that if something is written in braille, it will be understood by any blind person in the world, thinking that braille is a language and not a system with which words of any language can be written.
There are also those who think that, as it happens with visual letters, braille can also be written in different sizes, ignoring that signs need to have certain dimensions so that they can be read with the fingertips.
These are some of the anecdotes that we come across with, in our consultancy work, but there are many more. Our job is to help those who want to label in braille, to obtain a code that authentically serves its users, so that the effort made by these companies is really useful.
Pedro Ruiz, Braille Technician ONCE
The manufacturer of high-quality personal care products L’Occitane (https://loccitane.com) has been labelling almost all of its products with Braille for years.
While the Advent calendar with chocolate and Braille from Kampmann in Germany has been around for years (www.braille-adventskalender.de), Sawade has also been offering chocolates in a Braille Advent calendar and other Braille-labelled products since 2021.
(https://sawade.berlin)
I have not been able to verify whether the herbal teas from Pompadour and H&S are only labelled in Braille because they are considered medicinal.
The whisky supplier St. Kileans Distillers from Germany has so far brought out three whiskies with Braille labels. (www.stkileansdistillers.com)