GuidesBraille labels at home
Braille labels and plates at home
For someone who is blind or has low vision, a few well-placed braille labels save questions every day: which jar is the salt, which bottle is the shampoo, which is the evening medicine. This guide covers what to label first, what to write, where to put it and how to make it last.
Updated on September 27, 2026
1. What to label first
- The kitchen: salt and sugar, coffee, rice, oil and flour, and the spices that come in identical jars.
- The bathroom: shampoo and conditioner, which almost always come in similar bottles, soap and cream.
- The medicine cabinet: each medicine with its name, and the expiry date if it does not come in braille.
- Doors and drawers: the bedrooms, the wardrobe, the cutlery drawer.
What can already be told apart by its shape or size needs no label. Labeling ten things that get mixed up is worth more than labeling the whole house.
2. What to write
One word is enough: «sal» (salt), not «sal marina» (sea salt). In lowercase the plate is one cell shorter, because each capital letter carries its own sign. On the braille plate each letter adds 6 mm: «sal» measures 24 × 14.5 mm and «acondicionador» (conditioner), 90 × 14.5 mm. The plates use Spanish braille.
Numbers carry the number sign in front, so an expiry date like «12 26», the month and the year, fits on a 48 mm plate. For doors, the two lines help: the room on top and the name below.
3. Where to put it
Always in the same place on each container, so it can be found without searching: on the lid if it is flat, or on the front, where the fingers land when you pick it up. On doors, on the lock side and between 1.20 and 1.60 m from the floor, as the Colombian NTC 6047 asks for signs.
| What | Where | How it sticks |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen jars | Where: On the lid if it is flat; if not, on the front, always at the same height | How it sticks: Double-sided mounting tape |
| Bathroom bottles | Where: On the front, where the thumb lands when you pick it up | How it sticks: Clear silicone, because they get wet |
| Medicines | Where: On the box or bottle, with the name and the expiry date | How it sticks: Double-sided tape |
| Doors | Where: On the lock side, between 1.20 and 1.60 m from the floor | How it sticks: Double-sided mounting tape or silicone |
| Drawers and cupboards | Where: On the front, near the handle | How it sticks: Double-sided tape |
| Appliance buttons | Where: A raised dot works better than a word: a plate does not fit | How it sticks: Adhesive bump dots |
4. How to stick it and care for it
The plate is smooth on the back. Clean the surface with alcohol, let it dry and stick the plate with double-sided mounting tape, pressing for a minute. On things that get wet, such as the bottles in the shower, clear silicone lasts longer.
The plate is made of ASA, a plastic that withstands sun, kitchen heat and water. Clean it with a damp cloth and soap. The tape gives up before the plate does, so a jar with a plate is better kept out of the dishwasher.
5. Light or dark
For someone who still sees a little, contrast helps find the plate before touching it: a dark plate on a light jar, or a light one on a dark wooden door. Both cost the same and you choose on the plate page.
6. What a plate is not for
A word does not fit on microwave or washing machine buttons: an adhesive raised dot works there, the kind sold in shops for blind people. And for what changes every week, like frozen food, handwritten or voice labels are more practical.