 Accessibility Checklist

sample of handbook content

1 Sprint

Tools

Confluence

Goal

Ressource

In my current role, a significant portion of our work involves European Union-funded projects, which must comply with Level AA accessibility standards. This created the perfect opportunity to raise awareness and re-inforce of its implementation.

My goal was to create a straightforward and practical accessibility checklist that both designers and engineers could confidently use, regardless of their expertise in accessibility.

This ensures compliance while fostering a shared understanding and accountability across teams.

While creating the design system for Trilateral Research,
I identified a critical gap in ensuring consistent accessibility across all products within the company. This was exacerbated by a lack of clear, actionable guidelines that could be easily referenced during the design and development process.

To address this, I took the initiative to create a comprehensive Designer Accessibility Checklist that aligned with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and promoted consistent, accessible design practices across teams.

From my perspective, adhering to accessibility standards serves as a unified source of truth, providing a benchmark grounded in industry best practices.

Expertise

UX, UI, Workshop facilitation, Business Strategy,

Stakeholders

Product Team, Business

Problem Statement

— Inconsistent Accessibility Practices
While some team members were familiar with WCAG guidelines, there was no formalised, easily accessible tool to ensure consistent implementation.

— Lack of Awareness Across Teams
Engineers, designers, and other stakeholders lacked a shared understanding of accessibility principles, and the responsibility was often unclear.

— Integration into Existing Workflow
There was a need to seamlessly integrate the checklist into the existing design process without disrupting established workflows.

End user

Product Team
Marketing Team

Time

WCAG website
Medium, UXPin

Development Process

Creating the Checklist

I began by researching the WCAG guidelines in-depth and distilled key accessibility principles into an actionable checklist.

This checklist covered the following area such text readability (contrast, font size), navigation (keyboard support, logical flow), visual elements (color blindness considerations, alternative text for images), and interactive elements (focus states, form validation).

Centralised Documentation in Confluence

To ensure the checklist was easily accessible and could be kept up-to-date, I created a centralised document in Confluence.

This allowed for easy collaboration and version control, a single source of truth that could be referenced by all teams and real-time updates as new accessibility standards or best practices emerged.

Building Bridges with Engineers

Recognising that accessibility was a shared responsibility, I influenced the engineering team to read and understand the WCAG guidelines.
To facilitate this, I conducted a series of brief workshops and provided resources that helped bridge the knowledge gap.

This led to a stronger collaboration between design and engineering, with a mutual understanding of accessibility standards. Additionally, I encouraged engineers to create their own checklist for implementing accessible code based on the same WCAG guidelines.

Company-Wide Adoption

After the checklist was finalised, I presented it to key stakeholders across product teams, design, and engineering. I emphasised the importance of accessibility in product design and how the checklist could be a simple yet powerful tool to drive consistent standards.

Over time, the checklist was fully integrated into the company’s design and development workflows. It was adopted by all teams, who used it as part of their quality control process when launching new product features.

— Widespread Adoption
The checklist became a staple for all product teams and is now used across the company to ensure accessibility is considered at every stage of product development.

— Increased Awareness
The collaboration with engineers and the emphasis on WCAG guidelines increased the overall accessibility awareness within the organisation, leading to better-informed decision-making.

— Improved Product Accessibility
With the checklist in place, our products saw marked improvements in accessibility compliance, directly benefiting users with disabilities.

— Ongoing Impact
The checklist is continuously refined as we learn more about accessibility needs and as new standards emerge. It has become a key component of our ongoing commitment to inclusivity.

— The Power of Confluence
To ensure the checklist was accessible to everyone, I documented it in Confluence, the tool most teams already used for collaboration. By embedding the checklist in a familiar platform, it became part of our daily workflow.

Conclusion

Creating the Design Accessibility Checklist and fostering a culture of accessibility awareness was a key milestone in improving the inclusivity of our products.

It bridged the gap between design and engineering teams, empowered stakeholders across the organisation to take responsibility for accessibility, and ultimately contributed to delivering more accessible products.

By using Confluence as a collaborative tool, we ensured that the checklist remained a living document, capable of evolving with the needs of the business and industry standards.