Summary
Incorporating accessibility can be seen as a daunting task, especially for products that have already been released. Alexis Lucio, Senior Accessibility Lead at Splunk, will share her journey in making accessibility a first-class citizen within Splunk Design System. Topics include: how to advocate for accessibility, utilizing use cases to optimize design and dev, how to utilize user input, and ideas on how to collaborate with cross-functional partners.
Key Insights
-
•
Accessibility should be integrated early ('shift left') in the design and development process to reduce tech debt and remediation costs.
-
•
Automation tools catch about 30% of accessibility defects and cannot replace human audits and discernment.
-
•
Accessibility is often mistaken as limiting creativity, but it is actually a driver of innovation and inclusivity.
-
•
Unique naming for components like message bars is critical to avoid confusion for assistive technologies when multiple instances exist.
-
•
Breadcrumb navigation must not rely on color alone to convey meaning; it should be accessible through keyboard and screen readers and consider interactive behaviors.
-
•
Documenting accessibility decisions in design systems helps maintain consistency and educates users of the system.
-
•
Accessibility requires ongoing education and advocacy to get buy-in from diverse teams including designers, engineers, and product managers.
-
•
Small incremental changes to accessibility are better than no changes; it’s an ongoing journey rather than a one-time fix.
-
•
Accessibility levels range from inaccessible to legally compliant, usable, and ultimately innovative; compliance alone does not guarantee good UX.
-
•
Cross-functional collaboration and shared resources like accessibility one-pagers and bug-triaging spreadsheets improve scalability of accessibility efforts.
Notable Quotes
"Accessibility is innovation and this statement could potentially be some unchecked ableism."
"Automation only catches maybe 30% of all your a11y defects and even then we still receive a lot of false positives."
"I help you unlearn and relearn patterns so that you can build better products."
"If you’d rather exclude a group of people from using your product than do accessibility, then think about the impact you’re making."
"You can have a single page that’s got inaccessible, compliant, and accessible experiences all in one."
"No design system will ever be fully accessible because new features and permutations are always being introduced."
"Accessibility is a key component of user experience that has been neglected and requires specialists to close the gap."
"Small incremental changes are better than no changes at all from both the process and technical view."
"We’ve been taught to build fast and break things, and we often play accessibility on the back burner."
"Unique names for components like message bars are crucial, especially when multiple instances are shown at once."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Culture is the lens through which we experience our lives and products today."
Neil BarrieWidening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture
March 25, 2024
"No two transit riders are alike. No two transit trips are alike. No two service disruptions are alike."
Kristin TaylorBuilding Bridges Across Organizational Silos
November 18, 2022
"The challenge is co-developing a custom investment model that alters decision making based on portfolio logic rather than project-based thinking."
Milan Guenther Benjamin KumpfThe $212 billion ‘so what?’: unlocking impact in development cooperation
November 20, 2025
"Stop writing reports. If people aren’t reading them, try drawing, prototyping, and inviting others to make and visualize with you."
Dana ChisnellThe Sensemaking Business
March 10, 2026
"There is no one size fits all solution for screen readers."
Sam ProulxUnderstanding Screen Readers on Mobile: How And Why to Learn from Native Users
March 27, 2023
"Our biggest hope is that you gain confidence to see opportunity and realize it amid crisis."
Lada GorlenkoTheme 2 Intro
June 9, 2022
"If you say, ‘let’s look from an organization design perspective,’ AI reproduces the bias of that perspective in its output."
Russell Blair Milan GuentherKilling the blank page
June 5, 2024
"Preparation is key: pilot studies and a data analysis plan before launching ensure data quality and study success."
Amelia ColeData-Prompted Interviews
December 17, 2021
"The quick pop over to check on a file actually leads to a whole bunch of ancillary benefits, like social bonds."
Sam LadnerData Exhaust and Personal Data: Learning from Consumer Products to Enhance Enterprise UX
June 8, 2016
