Sep 10, 2023
Make it accessible and inclusive, make it great!
Learn more about how Exygy is actively integrating the valuable lessons and insights gained from attending Figma's Config Conference.
Step 1: Assess the situation
They connected with the team and identified four major pain points from product design, management, tech, and artistic teams.
The product design team is UI-centric, not user-centric.
The design team lacks maturity in UX methodologies.
Product experiences are disparate across devices and platforms.
Collaboration between design and tech is limited and complicated.
Step 2: Prioritize Next Steps
To tackle multiple issues, a four-phase approach was taken:
Methodology: The team was trained in UX methodologies, integrating user research and testing to make designers aware of user interaction with the product.
Tools: Due to lockdown and remote work, design tools were replaced with more inclusive and efficient ones, such as Figma and Figjam, to facilitate collaboration.
Design System: A new design system was created to unify the product and improve user experience across devices and countries. All design and technical components were centralized in a single repository, but this was a complex challenge that required a lot of evangelizing across the company to convince key decision-makers to invest in it.
People: New profiles and roles were needed to activate this change. This included Design Ops creating new processes and facilitating collaboration, UX Writers creating an inclusive editorial strategy, UX Engineers bridging the gap between design and tech, and Accessibility Specialists guaranteeing the accessibility of all components.
Step 3: Make it Accessible
Measure success with accessibility: There were no KPIs for disabled users, so the team couldn't promote the work's value. To protect privacy, you can’t track someone's disability. They needed to find a way to track the impact of the changes they were making.
Help product designers understand accessibility: It is important to socialize and prioritize the value of accessibility in the product roadmap. Squads dedicated to accessibility were created to help teams grow in their understanding of accessibility.
Establish usability testing with people with disabilities: They tested with blind users to ensure that anyone could use the platform. All in all, they spent two days testing with 10 blind users.
Create a new shared process: They created an iterative process to integrate findings without disturbing the product roadmap. Key steps were:
Assign feedback to appropriate members of the product squads
Hold workshops to find solutions to integrate accessibility improvements into project sprints
Validate iterations with new user testing after implementation
The talk ended by calling out how there was more work to do to standardize their learnings across their wider team in order to drive adoption. Standardization is something that we value at Exygy and our own team has been driving towards a new shared process for delivering on Accessibility and Inclusive Design. We’re excited to announce more as we continue to iterate, so stay tuned for updates.
In the meantime, please take a moment to read up on our team's path to provide more accessible and inclusive experiences - exygy.com/accessibility
Related Reading
Inclusive Design in Action: How Design, Engineering, and Product Collaboration Can Enhance Website Accessibility For EveryoneWithout collaboration, individual efforts may overlook important aspects of accessibility and may not fully address the needs of people using our products.
Demystifying Inclusive Design: Learnings on Designing Equitable and Accessible ProductsInclusive design consists of accessibility and equity. Exygy designers share their learnings from creating a design practice that centers inclusivity.
Accessible Affordable Housing: A Bloom Housing Case StudyOur Lead Designer, Jesse James, presents for California's Department of Rehabilitation Virtual Vendor Fair Bloom Housing's journey to work together with local community partner to make that our product as accessible as possible.
Resources
Sep 10, 2023
Make it accessible and inclusive, make it great!
Learn more about how Exygy is actively integrating the valuable lessons and insights gained from attending Figma's Config Conference.
Step 1: Assess the situation
They connected with the team and identified four major pain points from product design, management, tech, and artistic teams.
The product design team is UI-centric, not user-centric.
The design team lacks maturity in UX methodologies.
Product experiences are disparate across devices and platforms.
Collaboration between design and tech is limited and complicated.
Step 2: Prioritize Next Steps
To tackle multiple issues, a four-phase approach was taken:
Methodology: The team was trained in UX methodologies, integrating user research and testing to make designers aware of user interaction with the product.
Tools: Due to lockdown and remote work, design tools were replaced with more inclusive and efficient ones, such as Figma and Figjam, to facilitate collaboration.
Design System: A new design system was created to unify the product and improve user experience across devices and countries. All design and technical components were centralized in a single repository, but this was a complex challenge that required a lot of evangelizing across the company to convince key decision-makers to invest in it.
People: New profiles and roles were needed to activate this change. This included Design Ops creating new processes and facilitating collaboration, UX Writers creating an inclusive editorial strategy, UX Engineers bridging the gap between design and tech, and Accessibility Specialists guaranteeing the accessibility of all components.
Step 3: Make it Accessible
Measure success with accessibility: There were no KPIs for disabled users, so the team couldn't promote the work's value. To protect privacy, you can’t track someone's disability. They needed to find a way to track the impact of the changes they were making.
Help product designers understand accessibility: It is important to socialize and prioritize the value of accessibility in the product roadmap. Squads dedicated to accessibility were created to help teams grow in their understanding of accessibility.
Establish usability testing with people with disabilities: They tested with blind users to ensure that anyone could use the platform. All in all, they spent two days testing with 10 blind users.
Create a new shared process: They created an iterative process to integrate findings without disturbing the product roadmap. Key steps were:
Assign feedback to appropriate members of the product squads
Hold workshops to find solutions to integrate accessibility improvements into project sprints
Validate iterations with new user testing after implementation
The talk ended by calling out how there was more work to do to standardize their learnings across their wider team in order to drive adoption. Standardization is something that we value at Exygy and our own team has been driving towards a new shared process for delivering on Accessibility and Inclusive Design. We’re excited to announce more as we continue to iterate, so stay tuned for updates.
In the meantime, please take a moment to read up on our team's path to provide more accessible and inclusive experiences - exygy.com/accessibility
Related Reading
Inclusive Design in Action: How Design, Engineering, and Product Collaboration Can Enhance Website Accessibility For EveryoneWithout collaboration, individual efforts may overlook important aspects of accessibility and may not fully address the needs of people using our products.
Demystifying Inclusive Design: Learnings on Designing Equitable and Accessible ProductsInclusive design consists of accessibility and equity. Exygy designers share their learnings from creating a design practice that centers inclusivity.
Accessible Affordable Housing: A Bloom Housing Case StudyOur Lead Designer, Jesse James, presents for California's Department of Rehabilitation Virtual Vendor Fair Bloom Housing's journey to work together with local community partner to make that our product as accessible as possible.
Resources
Sep 10, 2023
Make it accessible and inclusive, make it great!
Learn more about how Exygy is actively integrating the valuable lessons and insights gained from attending Figma's Config Conference.
Step 1: Assess the situation
They connected with the team and identified four major pain points from product design, management, tech, and artistic teams.
The product design team is UI-centric, not user-centric.
The design team lacks maturity in UX methodologies.
Product experiences are disparate across devices and platforms.
Collaboration between design and tech is limited and complicated.
Step 2: Prioritize Next Steps
To tackle multiple issues, a four-phase approach was taken:
Methodology: The team was trained in UX methodologies, integrating user research and testing to make designers aware of user interaction with the product.
Tools: Due to lockdown and remote work, design tools were replaced with more inclusive and efficient ones, such as Figma and Figjam, to facilitate collaboration.
Design System: A new design system was created to unify the product and improve user experience across devices and countries. All design and technical components were centralized in a single repository, but this was a complex challenge that required a lot of evangelizing across the company to convince key decision-makers to invest in it.
People: New profiles and roles were needed to activate this change. This included Design Ops creating new processes and facilitating collaboration, UX Writers creating an inclusive editorial strategy, UX Engineers bridging the gap between design and tech, and Accessibility Specialists guaranteeing the accessibility of all components.
Step 3: Make it Accessible
Measure success with accessibility: There were no KPIs for disabled users, so the team couldn't promote the work's value. To protect privacy, you can’t track someone's disability. They needed to find a way to track the impact of the changes they were making.
Help product designers understand accessibility: It is important to socialize and prioritize the value of accessibility in the product roadmap. Squads dedicated to accessibility were created to help teams grow in their understanding of accessibility.
Establish usability testing with people with disabilities: They tested with blind users to ensure that anyone could use the platform. All in all, they spent two days testing with 10 blind users.
Create a new shared process: They created an iterative process to integrate findings without disturbing the product roadmap. Key steps were:
Assign feedback to appropriate members of the product squads
Hold workshops to find solutions to integrate accessibility improvements into project sprints
Validate iterations with new user testing after implementation
The talk ended by calling out how there was more work to do to standardize their learnings across their wider team in order to drive adoption. Standardization is something that we value at Exygy and our own team has been driving towards a new shared process for delivering on Accessibility and Inclusive Design. We’re excited to announce more as we continue to iterate, so stay tuned for updates.
In the meantime, please take a moment to read up on our team's path to provide more accessible and inclusive experiences - exygy.com/accessibility
Related Reading
Inclusive Design in Action: How Design, Engineering, and Product Collaboration Can Enhance Website Accessibility For EveryoneWithout collaboration, individual efforts may overlook important aspects of accessibility and may not fully address the needs of people using our products.
Demystifying Inclusive Design: Learnings on Designing Equitable and Accessible ProductsInclusive design consists of accessibility and equity. Exygy designers share their learnings from creating a design practice that centers inclusivity.
Accessible Affordable Housing: A Bloom Housing Case StudyOur Lead Designer, Jesse James, presents for California's Department of Rehabilitation Virtual Vendor Fair Bloom Housing's journey to work together with local community partner to make that our product as accessible as possible.
Resources