The practice of designing products that people with disabilities can use effectively. Accessibility encompasses visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities, and is guided by standards such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
Common contexts
- Auditing a redesigned form for keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility
- Reviewing a new color palette to confirm contrast ratios meet WCAG AA standards
- Adding captions and transcripts to product tutorial videos before launch
Use when
Build accessibility in from the first component — not as a pass at the end. If you're designing a new interactive element or entering a visual design phase, run WCAG checks in parallel so issues are caught before they're baked into a production component library.
Avoid when
Treating accessibility as a post-launch audit is the most expensive mistake teams make — retrofitting keyboard navigation or color contrast into a shipped design system costs three to five times more than building it correctly the first time and can delay releases by weeks.
Every accessibility fix you make benefits users without disabilities too — better contrast helps people in sunlight, keyboard support helps power users, and clear labels help everyone in a hurry.
Real-world examples
- Apple's iOS VoiceOver screen reader provides full device navigation for blind and low-vision users across all native apps.
- Microsoft's Accessibility Checker in Office 365 flags contrast issues and missing alt text before documents are shared.
- Airbnb introduced detailed accessibility filters so travellers with disabilities can search for step-free entrances, roll-in showers, and other features.