[Task] Research & define the foundational principles for accessibility design

[archibald-ebi]

Summary

The Design team is establishing a shared set of accessibility principles that define our baseline expectations when designing digital products and contributing to the Visual Framework.

Rather than documenting accessibility regulations, this work will focus on practical guidance that designers can consistently apply throughout discovery, design, prototyping and handover.

Areas of focus could include:

• Foundational accessibility principles for the team
• Designing with inclusive patterns and behaviours
• Colour, contrast and typography guidance
• Keyboard navigation, focus states and interaction patterns
• Accessible component usage within the Visual Framework
• Accessibility considerations during design reviews and handover

Why

Accessibility should be embedded into our design process rather than treated as a final review or compliance exercise. Establishing shared principles will help designers make informed decisions earlier, improve consistency across projects, and create experiences that work for the widest possible audience.

These principles should complement the Visual Framework documentation and provide practical guidance that the team can confidently apply in everyday design work.

Working Document

We are using the attached working document to capture research, accessibility guidance, team discussions, examples, and recommended best practices as they evolve.

Outcome

This ticket marks the initial research and definition of our design ops principles regarding accessibility standards. The outcome is to share suggestions for additional guidance or standards that would improve consistency, scalability and usability across our work.

Guidance and standards that help us with;

• Accessibility principles and design guidance
• Inclusive design best practices
• Component accessibility recommendations
• Discussion points and future improvements

As the work evolves, this ticket and the accompanying document should become the source of truth for accessibility within the Design team.

[archibald-ebi]

Adedoyin - Research Brief - Accessibility Principles
As we've reviewed VF components in both the live product and Figma, we've identified several legacy accessibility considerations. Rather than documenting individual issues, we'd like to establish a shared set of accessibility principles that guide how we design experiences, interfaces and components from the outset. Think of this as defining the team's accessibility mindset rather than creating an accessibility checklist.

Research tasks

• Research accessibility guidance from leading design systems, WCAG resources and industry best practice.
• Propose a set of foundational accessibility principles for the team to discuss and adopt.
• Explore practical recommendations, such as useful Figma plugins, workflows and review processes.
• Investigate topics such as disabled controls, handling legacy accessibility issues, inclusive interaction patterns and other principles we should consistently apply.