Design systems are meant to streamline, scale, and unify digital experiences. But if accessibility isn’t built into your system from the start, you’re just scaling exclusion.
Accessibility (a11y) is not a checklist. It’s a mindset, a shared responsibility, and a key measure of quality in your design system. In this post, we’ll break down how to embed accessibility into your tokens, components, content, and team culture—so your products work better for everyone.
Why Accessibility Matters in a Design System
Let’s begin with the “why.” Accessibility isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential.
- Legal compliance: In many countries, digital accessibility is a legal requirement.
- Wider reach: 1 in 5 people globally experience disability. Accessible design opens your product to millions more users.
- Better UX for everyone: Features like high contrast, keyboard shortcuts, or clear focus states benefit all users, not just those with disabilities.
- Reduced technical debt: When baked into your components, accessibility doesn’t need retrofitting or patching later.
The design system is the perfect place to make accessibility scalable and repeatable across your entire digital ecosystem.
Where Accessibility Belongs in a Design System
A truly accessible system doesn’t isolate accessibility in one section. It embeds it into every layer. Here’s where it shows up:
1. Design Tokens
Tokens are the foundational values of your system—color, spacing, typography, motion. These can directly impact accessibility:
- Color: Define accessible contrast ratios from the start (use WCAG 2.1 AA or AAA standards). Avoid problematic combinations like red/green.
- Motion: Provide motion-reduced alternatives for users with vestibular disorders. Use
prefers-reduced-motionmedia query support. - Typography: Set minimum font sizes, generous line height, and character spacing to aid readability.
💡 Tip: Use tooling like ColorBox or Adobe Color Contrast Analyzer to ensure contrast from the start.
2. Components
Your components must not only look great but work for all users.
Key accessibility practices for common UI components:
- Buttons: Use real
<button>elements (not styled<div>s). Include accessible labels and focus states. - Forms: Every input must have a label. Include clear error messaging, use semantic HTML, and allow keyboard navigation.
- Modals: Trap focus inside the modal, allow ESC to close, and return focus to the triggering element.
- Navigation: Enable keyboard navigation and use proper ARIA roles.
Create component variations that support different accessibility needs (e.g., high contrast toggle, large text).
💡 Tip: Include accessibility annotations in your component documentation (e.g., “Keyboard accessible”, “ARIA roles included”).
3. Content and Writing Guidelines
Content is often overlooked in accessibility conversations, but it plays a huge role:
- Headings: Use heading levels logically to support screen reader navigation.
- Alt text: Always describe the purpose of images (or mark as decorative if irrelevant).
- Links: Make link text descriptive (avoid “click here”).
- Plain language: Use clear, concise, and jargon-free writing for broader comprehension.
Content authors should be trained to follow accessible writing practices and use tools like Hemingway Editor or Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker during reviews.
4. Patterns and Layouts
Your layout and UI patterns should anticipate accessibility needs:
- Focus order: Logical tab order is essential for keyboard users.
- Skip links: Add skip navigation for screen reader and keyboard users.
- Error handling: Show AND announce errors. Use ARIA live regions or similar techniques.
Avoid complex interactions that rely only on hover or require specific input methods (like dragging).
How to Document Accessibility in Your System
Documentation is where accessibility becomes teachable and repeatable.
Include:
- Accessibility notes in component pages (e.g., supported ARIA roles, keyboard behavior)
- Accessible examples with code and visual previews
- Do/don’t examples showing correct vs. incorrect implementations
- A shared checklist your team can use during development or reviews
- Accessibility testing guidance with recommended tools and workflows
💡 Tip: Create a dedicated “Accessibility” section in your design system to house principles, checklists, and team responsibilities.
Accessibility Testing Tools to Integrate
To ensure your components stay accessible as they evolve, embed testing into your workflow:
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| axe | Chrome dev tool for auditing issues |
| WAVE | Visual tool for spotting common issues |
| Lighthouse | Scores pages for accessibility in audits |
| Screen readers | Test actual usability for blind users |
| Pa11y CI | Automate accessibility testing in your pipeline |
Don’t just rely on automation. Manual testing is essential to catch contextual or UX-related issues.
Embedding Accessibility into Team Culture
A design system can’t do it all alone—accessibility has to be a team value.
For designers:
- Use accessible color palettes and patterns
- Annotate designs with accessibility notes (e.g., alt text, labels)
For developers:
- Build semantic HTML first
- Ensure keyboard and screen reader compatibility
For content authors:
- Write for clarity and screen readers
- Use headings, lists, and alt text correctly
For product managers:
- Include accessibility in your definition of done
- Prioritise accessible features in backlogs
Bring accessibility into sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives—not just release QA.
A design system isn’t complete unless it works for everyone. By embedding accessibility into your tokens, components, guidelines, and culture, you’re not just making better products—you’re making inclusive design the default.
Accessibility doesn’t slow you down. It makes your system—and your product—stronger, more usable, and more future-proof.