Short answer
Accessibility design creates experiences that people with varied access needs can perceive, understand, and use. It integrates access requirements into design decisions, states, documentation, and verification throughout delivery.
About Accessibility design
Designs experiences that people with varied access needs can perceive, understand, and use. The competency covers identifying barriers, specifying accessible behavior and presentation, involving relevant perspectives, and verifying outcomes.
Use this competency for
- Roles accountable for preventing or resolving access barriers in products, services, or communications.
- Roles expected to specify accessible states, interactions, content, or alternatives during design.
Do not use this competency for
- Roles with no authority over design decisions or accessibility requirements in delivered experiences.
Important distinctions
Interaction design
Accessibility design checks whether varied access needs can use an interaction. Interaction design defines the task behavior for the intended experience overall.
Visual design
Accessibility design prevents perceptual and cognitive barriers across presentation choices. Visual design shapes composition, hierarchy, type, and color for clarity.
Expectations by level
IC1
Individual contributor 1
Applies defined accessibility requirements to a bounded design with guidance, documents relevant states and alternatives, and corrects barriers identified through review or checks.
Observable behaviors
- Checks assigned designs for keyboard path, focus order, contrast, labels, and error communication where relevant.
- Specifies text alternatives or equivalent paths for non-text information and actions.
- Records accessibility questions and known limits in the design handoff.
Examples
- Updates a form so errors are identified by text and linked to the affected fields rather than shown by color alone.
- Adds focus order and keyboard behavior notes to a dialog specification before implementation.
IC2
Individual contributor 2
Independently identifies and resolves accessibility needs across a product area, includes relevant checks in the design process, and works with implementation partners to verify complex states.
Observable behaviors
- Reviews a full task for barriers across input, navigation, comprehension, and feedback.
- Includes people with relevant access needs or suitable evaluation methods in validation planning.
- Verifies implemented behavior and prioritizes barriers by task impact and available recovery.
Examples
- Redesigns a drag-and-drop task with an equivalent keyboard path and verifies the implemented announcements.
- Finds that a timeout blocks task completion and specifies warning, extension, and recovery behavior.
IC3
Individual contributor 3
Leads accessibility design across connected products, resolves systemic barriers involving multiple teams, and establishes practices that make access requirements visible in planning, design, and verification.
Observable behaviors
- Identifies recurring barriers across product areas and defines shared design responses.
- Facilitates decisions when access needs conflict with existing patterns or delivery constraints.
- Creates review and verification practices that assign owners and preserve evidence through release.
Examples
- Coordinates teams to replace an inaccessible shared navigation pattern and plans migration for affected flows.
- Introduces accessibility acceptance notes and review checkpoints after barriers repeatedly reach implementation late.