Creating Inclusive Design Systems: A Guide to Accessibility
The Importance of Accessibility in Design Systems
Design systems are meant to enable design teams to create consistent experiences more efficiently. However, if a design system is not accessible, it can lead to a product that excludes users with disabilities. By incorporating accessibility into your design system, you can ensure that your product is usable by everyone, regardless of their abilities.
Accessibility Guidelines and Resources
There are several accessibility guidelines and resources available to help designers create accessible products. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are widely recognized as the standard for measuring accessibility. WCAG provides three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Level AA is the standard benchmark used in the industry.
In addition to WCAG, there are other resources available, such as Section 508, which provides guidelines for designing accessible products for the US government. The IBM Equal Access Toolkit and Microsoft’s Inclusive Design Toolkit are also valuable resources for designers.
Incorporating Accessibility into Your Design Process
To incorporate accessibility into your design process, you need to consider the different types of disabilities and how they affect users. Permanent disabilities, temporary disabilities, and situational disabilities all require different design considerations. For example, users with low vision may require high-contrast color schemes and large text.
Building Accessibility into Your Design System
A design system typically consists of a style guide, component library, and pattern library. To build accessibility into your design system, you need to ensure that each element, component, and pattern is accessible. This includes using color contrast checkers, providing alternative text for images, and ensuring that typography is readable and legible.
/* Example of accessible CSS */
body {
font-size: 16px;
line-height: 1.5;
color: #333;
background-color: #fff;
}
h1, h2, h3 {
font-weight: bold;
color: #000;
}
a {
color: #337ab7;
text-decoration: none;
}
a:hover {
color: #23527c;
text-decoration: underline;
}
Testing Your Design System for Accessibility
To ensure that your design system is accessible, you need to test it for keyboard and screen reader accessibility. Keyboard accessibility involves testing your design system using only a keyboard, while screen reader accessibility involves testing your design system with a screen reader.
<button>Click me</button>
<img src="image.jpg" alt="Alternative text">
<a href="#">Link text</a>
Best Practices for Accessible Design
- Use color contrast checkers to ensure that your design system meets the WCAG AA level for contrast.
- Provide alternative text for images and graphic elements.
- Ensure that typography is readable and legible.
- Use simple and universal iconography.
- Provide adequate spacing between elements on the page.
- Use elevation to indicate the relative importance of elements on the page.