The Braille Alphabet

The basic grid of a Braille alphabet character consists of six dots, positioned like the figure six on a die, in two parallel vertical lines of three dots each. From the six dots that make up the basic grid, 64 different signs can be created. Reading direction of Braille is the same as for regular type and the rules for hyphenation that apply for regular fonts also apply in Braille. The guidelines on Braille requirements for pharmaceutical labelling and packaging recommend that an un-contracted Braille alpahabet system, conforming to the Marburg Medium format, should be used. In un-contracted Braille, every individual letter of the alphabet, punctuation mark etc. is represented by its own Braille character(s).

Braille Character Sets

Braille character sets consist of letters, numbers, punctuation, symbols and special characters. Some parts of character sets are common between countries whereas other parts differ, e.g. Latin versus other alphabets and accented letters.

In the artwork creation process, the Braille character set to be used should be verified as appropriate for the country in which the medicinal product is to be supplied. The Marketing Authorization Holder (MAH) and packaging supplier should check all Braille artwork for current accuracy and relevance.

If multi-market, multilingual packs are being produced with Braille text, the correct character sets should be included and clearly identified in the artwork.

Capitalization should be avoided other than where required for trademark purposes. Trademark symbols, e.g. ® ™™, should be omitted unless required for legal purposes.

Braille Alphabet Letters—Internationally Standardised

Note: It is recommended that there is no capitalisation in Braille text on pharmaceutical cartons.

Braille Numbers—Internationally Standardised

Numbers use the same Braille characters as the letter symbols A to J

Note: When indicating numbers the number sign proceeds the Braille number to differentiate them from letter symbols A to J. In Europe the number is always terminated with a space. See example below.

Note: French Antoine Braille number symbols are unique characters and do not conform to the international numbers standard.

Note: IADD Can-Am Braille requires a letter sign to be inserted between numbers and letters when numbers are immediately followed by letters. See example below.

Punctuation Marks

Note: In ink print, thousand separators and decimal places may be either “.” or “,” depending on the country, but in Braille they are usually as shown above. However, they do very from country to country, so please refer to the national Braille code.

Examples of Nationally Different Special Braille Alphabet Characters in Europe

Larger special Braille alphabet characters table

Note: While every care has been taken to check the accuracy of the symbols used in each language, because there is no single Braille authority we cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.