Improving Accessibility to Create a More Inclusive Digital Experience

The online shop needed to align with Germany’s accessibility regulations while ensuring the platform remained usable for all users, including those with disabilities.

Beyond compliance, the goal was to identify barriers that affected interaction clarity, navigation, and content accessibility — and translate findings into actionable improvements.

• Limited evaluation timeframe (2 weeks)
• Existing design and development systems already in place
• Accessibility standards needed to be translated into actionable design improvements

#1 Translate standards into a practical usability checklist

Need:
Accessibility guidelines needed to become actionable design criteria.

Decision:
Created a structured evaluation checklist covering contrast ratios, text scaling, ARIA labels, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility.

#2 Assess barriers through a usability lens — not only compliance

Need:
Accessibility gaps often affect all users, not only specific groups.

Decision:
Evaluated interaction clarity, focus states, form feedback, and navigation patterns to identify usability improvements beyond minimum legal requirements.

#3 Prioritize improvements based on impact and feasibility

Need:
The team required clarity on what to address first.

Decision:
Categorized findings by severity and implementation complexity to support phased improvements.

This project reinforced that accessibility should not be treated as a one-time evaluation, but as an ongoing design responsibility.

A key next step would be embedding accessibility standards directly into the design system, ensuring future components are built with accessible patterns by default.

By integrating accessibility into foundational design assets, barriers can be prevented rather than corrected retrospectively.