As Comcast, like many other design-forward companies, migrated from primarily using Sketch to Figma, an excellent opportunity arose: to incorporate accessibility elements within our new design system. I played a key role in Comcast’s push for accessibility, helping turn a siloed, overlooked design approach into a unified, scalable system still in use today, years later. On a small, nimble team of just two designers, I wore multiple hats—leading research, project planning, user interviews, component design, and offering post-launch support. I took full ownership of several critical aspects, balancing both strategy and hands-on execution.
Competitive Analysis I dug deep into how industry standard-makers like Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others handled accessibility issues and opportunities and that research guided our approach. Here’s what stood out:
Corporate accessibility practices are wildly non-uniform—there was no consistent standard.
Designers and developers need components that are quick to scan and easy to use; they don’t want to/don't have the bandwidth to dive into the weeds.
Institutional buy-in is critical. We had to make the case for accessibility’s impact on the business with KPIs to show results.
User Interviews I led dozens of interviews with designers, developers, accessibility subject matter experts, and product managers—the people who would actually use this system day-to-day. A few common themes kept coming up:
Tight deadlines and not enough time for learning.
A strong desire to build accessible products, but lacking the expertise.
Concern about who would maintain the system long-term.
These conversations directly shaped our final product, which is still going strong a year and a half later.
Implementation The accessible design system was rolled out in a way that minimized the burden on designers and developers. After a few soft launches to test it, we officially published it in Figma and got the word out via Slack, meetings, and direct updates to senior VPs. Users were invited to weekly office hours for in-depth questions, and I co-managed our dedicated Slack channel to troubleshoot daily needs. After deployment, we saw an immediate improvement of 22% in internal product usability tests.
A few components of the design system
Key Takeaways Designers and developers want to build accessible products, but it’s up to the architects of the design system to make it as easy as possible for them to do it. By offering continuous support—Slack, office hours, 1-on-1 help—we made sure the system was something they could actually use without getting bogged down. That hands-on approach made all the difference.
