109. Making Design Systems Inclusive with Accessibility Specialist Daniel Henderson-Ede
May 14, 2024
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Daniel Henderson-Ede, an accessibility specialist at Pinterest, sheds light on the challenges and significance of inclusive design for those with disabilities. He discusses how accessibility should be a foundational aspect of design systems, not just an afterthought. Using a Tex-Mex metaphor, he illustrates how consistent design enhances usability. The conversation also covers practical strategies for creating accessible themes and the importance of team collaboration in embracing these practices, ultimately aiming to enhance user experience for all.
The podcast emphasizes that true accessibility goes beyond compliance, focusing instead on understanding and improving the real experiences of users with disabilities.
It highlights the importance of design systems in promoting consistent accessibility practices, providing essential resources and fostering collaboration across teams for better user experiences.
Deep dives
Human-Centered Accessibility
Accessibility is often misperceived as merely ensuring compliance with guidelines like WCAG. The focus should instead be on understanding the actual experiences of users with disabilities, which requires product designers to consider how design choices impact these users. The role of an accessibility specialist involves advocating for practical design decisions that enhance usability for individuals with varied needs while still aligning with technical requirements. By prioritizing human experiences, it becomes easier to convey the significance of accessibility to stakeholders, making it a fundamental aspect of the design process rather than a checkbox exercise.
The Role of Design Systems in Scaling Accessibility
Design systems play a crucial role in establishing consistent accessibility practices across an organization's products. Accessibility becomes more challenging to implement at scale, necessitating a shared framework that guides design decisions and fosters collaboration among teams. An effective design system not only specifies accessible design components but also provides educational resources on why these choices matter for users with disabilities. This approach helps create a unified vision of accessibility, ensuring that design efforts resonate across numerous products and teams.
Integrating Accessibility into Design Practices
The conversation around accessibility must extend beyond mere compliance checks to encompass the overall user experience, especially regarding contextual usage. Testing components like buttons in isolation often fails to reflect their true accessibility within a complete user flow, as their efficacy can drastically shift based on context. Design systems should facilitate a focus on the larger user experience and structure testing processes around real-world applications of components. By incorporating user feedback and acknowledging complex interactions, organizations can develop a more comprehensive understanding of accessibility and improve their designs for all users.
Welcome to another episode of The Design Systems Podcast! In honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we're thrilled to have Daniel Henderson-Ede, an accessibility specialist, here to discuss the need for and challenges of making inclusive design experiences for those with disabilities, and how design systems can help. Daniel shares why and how accessibility considerations should influence every decision in design systems to create better, more inclusive products. We get into the importance of theme management, and the latest updates in accessibility standards. Join us as we navigate the critical intersections of design, accessibility, and system thinking to shed light on how we can enhance user experiences on a grand scale.
Guest Daniel Henderson-Ede (he/him) is an Accessibility Designer for design systems at Pinterest. He loves working alongside designers, engineers, and leaders to advocate for accessibility at scale, with the aim of creating equitable experiences for disabled users. He has also previously used his design system knowledge to publish a collection of accessibility annotation kits whilst at CVS Health.
Host Chris Strahl is co-founder and CEO of Knapsack, host of @TheDSPod, DnD DM, and occasional river guide. You can find Chris on Twitter as @chrisstrahl and on LinkedIn.
Sponsor Sponsored by Knapsack, the design system platform that brings teams together. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.
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