DESIGNA11Y

Track: Cross-functional Inclusion Labs
Duration: 45 Minutes
This session is focused on why I do what I do, framed through the narrative of my personal experience with disabilities. This is suitable for cross-functional teams and is intended to help motivate the overall practice of inclusive and accessible design.
We will explore accessibility from a personal perspective and discuss why A11y matters for users, teams, and organizations. We will also look at tips and techniques to help incorporate A11y into your design systems and organization's culture.

Track: Designers A11y Bootcamps
Duration: 60 Minutes
We explore color in detail. This session takes a look at the role of color in brand identity, explores the process to building a new color story from the ground up as well as techniques to adjust color palettes to achieve a strong baseline for accessibility. This is a session for designers, we get hands-on into the tools. We cover accessibility guidelines and principles, as well as the technical requirements of color vision deficiency. We provide a full set of tools and guidance to ensure you create accessible color palettes for any project.
We also dive into the world of contrast ratio calculations, setting up WCAG 2.1 success criteria, designing with accessibly in mind.

Track: Designers A11y Bootcamps
Duration: 90 Minutes
The building blocks of an accessible design system begin here. This session continues on the journey from creating your accessible palette towards setting yourself and you team up for a scalable and efficient framework to maintain your designs accessibility. We explore, typography, spacing, expanded color palettes and begin creating accessible button styling. You will leave with an understanding of how to leverage design tokens and atoms. Whether you subscribe to the atomic design principles of Brad Frost using Atoms, Molecules and Organisms or are working within the world of Atomic 2.0 of Tokens, Patterns and Blocks this session will be for you.
Gain practical tactics, tools and techniques for creating accessible designs that are easy to maintain. We'll look at specific examples from real-world applications and explore the importance of accessibility in the design process.

Track: Designers A11y Bootcamps
Duration: 90 Minutes
A continuation from Design Tokens & Atoms, this session is focused on more complex component styling, as well as thinking about the use of interactions & transitions. We dive into the do’s and don’ts of animation and how to ensure that you can create a sleek and elevated UI while maintaining accessibility.
We also look into the impact of creating and using icons, as well as accessible labels. Finally we will explore how to use a design system to create an optimal user experience for everyone.
This track is designed to challenge designers on every level – from beginners to masters alike! With practical tips and resources available, you’ll walk out of the session empowered to create more inclusive and effective digital experiences.

*A11y Beyond Compliance

Track: Design & Dev Process
Duration: 60 Minutes
This session is great for both in-house teams and agencies. The earliest stage and opportunity for an a11y practice.
The goal of Ideation ABC is to help user experience and product teams understand what opportunities exist for accessibility and inclusion at this early stage of the development process.
At this stage you have not designed the interface or written any code or developed any prototype. It’s a concept, typically communicated via slides and a business case.
Ideation ABC will help you:
1. Understand the fundamentals of accessibility and inclusion in the digital space
2. Identify what they can do at this stage to ensure their transformation is more inclusive
3. Learn how to communicate their ideas effectively with stakeholders and design partners
4. Leverage an a11y strategy to create product experiences that meet the needs of all users.
Ideation ABC also provides guidance in how to create more accessible designs. We can suggest ways of making existing designs work better for users with disabilities and offer tips on improving usability. Finally, we review collaboration with stakeholders to ensure that the product meets both the business and accessibility goals.

Track: Design & Dev Process
Duration: 60 Minutes
This session is great for both in-house teams and agencies. Whether your products are designed and developed in-house, externally or hybrid this session focuses on how to evolve your process to include a11y. We look at everything waterfall to SAFe Agile frameworks, discussing when and where and how to include a11y checkpoints into your process without missing all your deadlines, underestimating scope or creating an endless pile of bugs to fix after launch. This session focuses on who is responsible for what, how to have more efficient hand-off from design to dev and how to leverage a proactive position on a11y in order to avoid downstream costly issues. We look at the various tools and considerations for making sure your process is efficient, effective, cost-effective and builds a11y from the start. You’ll gain an understanding of how designers should be thinking about a11y concerns in their creative process as well as some best practices to ensure accuracy and consistency.
We also discuss the importance of ongoing testing and communication between designers, developers and a11y professionals. The goal is to help make sure that everyone is on the same page by creating effective communication channels so nothing falls through the cracks.

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