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
"I want you to have the best time possible and bring your fullest self to our conference today."
Louis Rosenfeld Bria AlexanderDay 1 Welcome
September 23, 2024
"Design is problem-solving, and part of the problem is the environment in which you’re trying to work."
Bob BaxleyLeading with Design Operations Past and Present
December 19, 2019
"The researchers' role includes coaching, mentoring, and leading research efforts, not just doing research ops."
Smitha Papolu Nova Wehman-Brown Melissa Schmidt Adam MenterTheme 3 Discussion
June 4, 2019
"Who deals with chaos, ambiguity, and disruption best? It’s us, design operations humans."
Alnie FigueroaThe Future of Design Operations: Transforming Our Craft
September 10, 2025
"Workers are often worried about layoffs and their value when AI speeds up their process, while executives like the efficiency gains."
Peter Van DijckDesigning AI-first products on top of a rapidly evolving technology
June 10, 2025
"Afrofuturistic research techniques aren’t just cultural displays, but social design methods with explicit intent and thought behind them."
Florence OkoyeAfroFuturism and UX Research
March 27, 2023
"Having an employee resource group member on interview panels creates a safe space for candidates to disclose more about themselves."
Libby MaurerTreating Diversity & Inclusion in Hiring as a Design Problem
December 5, 2019
"You have to build something, ship something, and make something especially when dealing with hundreds of thousands of objects."
Uday GajendarTheme 1: Introduction
June 9, 2021
"You want to write a brief for each initiative and confirm it with your stakeholders before putting a team together to execute it."
Peter BoersmaHow to Define and Maintain a DesignOps Roadmap
October 3, 2023
