Scaling Accessibility Through Design Systems
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
"As leaders, spending one-on-ones with managers can cascade connection-making culture down to teams."
Nick CochranGrowing in Enterprise Design through Making Connections
June 20, 2019
"Having a huge appetite for research and a huge manner for research is a good problem to have. So let's lean into it."
Jesse ZolnaInviting the Whole Org to Come See For Yourself
March 30, 2020
"User research's value lies in linking user needs and pain points directly to business profit and loss."
Nick Fine Alexandra Jayeun Lee Greg Nudelman Bo WangHow UX researchers can partner with (and not be replaced by) AI [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
August 31, 2023
"Being comfortable with discomfort is key — if someone tells me I'm wrong, I'm okay with that."
Tricia WangSCALE: Discussion
June 15, 2018
"Why am I talking? Sometimes it’s better to ask a question and be silent."
Laura WeissThere is No Playbook: Leader as Coach During Challenging Times
April 26, 2024
"The wrong place is to not start with accessibility; where you start doesn’t matter as long as you do."
Nicole Bergstrom Anna Cook Kate Kalcevich Saara Kamppari-MillerAccessibilityOps: Moving beyond “nice to have”
September 19, 2024
"You can define your own design process, whether it’s Lean UX, Double Diamond, or something custom."
Aurobinda Pradhan Shashank DeshpandeIntroduction to Collaborative DesignOps using Cubyts
September 9, 2022
"X is going to change everything. Sometimes it’s true, and sometimes it’s just hype."
Husani OakleyTheme Three Intro
June 6, 2023
"Super senior individual contributors can focus on strategic and creative work that design directors and VPs often don’t have time for."
Peter MerholzDesign at Scale is People!
June 11, 2021
