How to use PharmaBraille Braille fonts

To ensure your artwork conforms to the Marburg Medium Braille standard please follow the instructions below.

When setting the PharmBraille fonts on your artwork the objective is to comply with the Marburg Medium specification, as recommended by the European Commission for use on pharmaceutical packaging and labels. The European Carton Makers Association and the USA and Canada International Association of Diecutting and Diemaking have also followed this specification.

Setting Braille in your carton artwork

What sets PharmaBraille Braille fonts apart from other Braille fonts is that they have been designed to the Marburg Medium Standard. So, with your new fonts all you have to do to comply with the Marburg Medium Braille font specification is set the font with a font size of 10mm and leading (line spacing) of 10mm (100%). Most graphics programs will translate this into a point size of 28.3465pt and leading (line spacing) of 28.3465pt—some will not—please confirm the sizing is correct on your artwork. Of course it is easier to type and remember 10mm. Check that there is no extra tracking or word spacing set and the text is left aligned to ensure that the horizontal spacing is correct. Please check your artwork carefully to ensure that the Braille is sized and spaced correctly. Confirm that it matches the spacing guidelines above.

See the ‘Layout Specifications section’ in our Braille for Packaging Guidelines to see how to position Braille characters on your artwork and recommendations for artwork for proofing and approval.

Special Braille Characters and Symbols

When indicating numbers the number sign proceeds the number symbols to differentiate them from letter symbols A to J.

The number symbol is the #, or (ALT + 3) on a Mac. See example below.

The symbol to represent capital letters is ^ (SHIFT + 6). Note: There is no capitalisation in Braille text on folding cartons.

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 please confirm with your national Braille code.

The thousands separator is * (SHIFT + 8).

The decimal point in UK Braille is the same as a comma (,). Check your national Braille code.

There is no single European Braille authority. Letters and numbers are standardised throughout Europe, however there are different characters used for certain punctuation and symbols. Please confirm that you are using the correct Braille form.

Please see our Braille Alphabet page for more information.