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
"Building a research activation initiative is a marathon, not a sprint, requiring ongoing adaptation."
Jake BurghardtStop wasting research: Unlock more value from research insights
June 24, 2025
"Cross-departmental cooperation helped redesign playgrounds with features that support early brain development."
Sarah AuslanderIncremental Steps to Drive Radical Innovation in Policy Design
November 18, 2022
"Starting with a blank spreadsheet forces you to think through your system very deeply, connecting feature changes to financial impacts."
Giff ConstableFinancial fluency for product leaders: AMA with Giff Constable
April 11, 2024
"Working with AI made me understand what engineers go through with setups and debugging."
Christian CrumlishThe Pygmalion Effect: In Which a Vibe Coding Experiment Becomes a Million Lines…
August 14, 2025
"If you say great user experience, no, it’s not specific, it’s not measurable, it’s not actionable."
Fredrik MathesonFirst-time users, longtime strategies: Why Parkinson’s Law is making you less effective at work – and how to design a fix.
June 8, 2016
"This conference is the opportunity I saw to design an experience that felt personal to our community."
Bria AlexanderTheme Two Intro
October 3, 2023
"Accessible foundations are built by involving voices of people with disabilities from ideation to prototyping to launch."
Sam ProulxOnline Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
March 28, 2023
"Onboarding isn’t a one-time activity, it’s an ongoing event that helps people connect and find their place."
Allison SandersOperating with Purpose
January 8, 2024
"It needs to be a strong structure, not necessarily super pretty, but the foundation your team sits upon and the roof above its head."
Cassandra PiesterDeveloping and Deploying Your Design Operations Strategy
September 24, 2024