Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Scaling Accessibility Through Design Systems
Gold
Thursday, June 9, 2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Share the love for this talk
Scaling Accessibility Through Design Systems
Speakers: Alexis Lucio
Link:

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."

Ask the Rosenbot
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Smitha Papolu
Theme 3 Discussion
2019 • Enterprise Experience 2019
Gold
Cheryl Platz
Demystifying Multimodal Design: The Design Practice You Didn't Know You're Doing
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Dominique Ward
The Most Exciting Time for DesignOps is Now
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Ryan Matthew
Bridging Design and Code: AI-Powered Design System Integration
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Christian Rohrer
Insight Types That Influence Enterprise Decision Makers
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Lija Hogan
Doing more with more: Lessons from the Front Lines of Democratization
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Patrizia Bertini
The (r)evolution of designOps: It’s Time to Think (really) BIG
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Prerna Makanawala
Achieving Balanced Design Consistency
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Wyatt Hayman
Global Research Panels
2020 • DesignOps Community
John Calhoun
Two Sides of the DesignOps Coin: Teams Ops and Product Ops
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Samuel Proulx
Designing for Disability, Innovating for Everyone
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Theresa Neil
Designing for Wellness: Specializing in Healthcare
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Liam Thurston
Why Your Design Team Is Quitting, And How To Fix It
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
The Bigger Picture: A Panel Discussion
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Jemma Ahmed
Collaboration: learning from other fields beyond our own [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
2024 • Advancing Research Community

More Videos

Robert Fabricant

"It is okay to be vulnerable as a facilitator and to ask for co-facilitation with someone closer to the problem."

Robert Fabricant Sahibzada Mayed Nidhi Singh Rathore

Industry junctures: Paths forwards for UXR and the critical decisions that get us there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]

October 2, 2024

Vanessa Varin

"Giving feedback is a skill, just like design. It takes practice and care."

Vanessa Varin

Feedback: The Other F-Word

September 10, 2025

Isaac Heyveld

"Emotional intelligence is key to navigating situations with senior leaders multiple grades above you."

Isaac Heyveld

Expand DesignOps Leadership as a Chief of Staff

September 8, 2022

Tutti Taygerly

"The little girl I once was learned to slow down and trust her own leadership."

Tutti Taygerly

Make Space to Lead

June 12, 2021

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW

"Having a Slack channel for chat and resources creates ongoing conversations and historical artifacts beyond the live talks."

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW Victor Udoewa Jennifer Strickland

Everything You Need to Know about the Civic Design 2022 Call for Presentations

May 17, 2022

Jack Moffett

"Executives like NPS because it’s a simple, quick-to-understand number, even if they don’t fully grasp its nuances."

Jack Moffett

UX Metrics That Matter and The Future of our Design at Scale Conference: A Community Conversation

September 22, 2022

Lavy Kumar

"Instead of measuring productivity by hours or busyness, focus on quality of work."

Lavy Kumar Kat Temple Shan Sebastian Tara Jensen Jenn Chou

Future of Work

June 9, 2021

Milan Guenther

"Enterprises are basically people pursuing outcomes, doing activities, and using objects—this simple theory underpins the language of Edgy."

Milan Guenther

A Shared Language for Co-Creating Ambitious Endeavours

June 6, 2023

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW

"To be anti-racist, you must be trauma-informed; to be trauma-informed, you must commit to anti-racist work."

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW

Trauma-Responsive Design: Reimagining the Future of Design Now

December 10, 2021