OneSpan Design System: Accessibility at Scale
Unified a fragmented, multi-app portfolio into a single, modern visual language that increased design velocity and shielded the company from potential ADA accessibility lawsuits.
Impact
400K+
Component insertions across UX team's design mockups.
~100
Standardized components.
~70
Documented releases with version control.
Process and Key Decisions
Discovery
I spearheaded a comprehensive audit of OneSpan’s flagship product to identify high-risk inconsistencies and accessibility gaps, providing the data-driven roadmap for standardization:
- Identifying reusable patterns to accelerate design and dev velocity.
- Mapping visual and functional inconsistencies to reduce support costs.
- Isolating ADA compliance risks to shield the company from legal liability.
The "Prescriptive" Library
To account for varying levels of accessibility knowledge, I built the system with guardrails that made the accessible path the path of least resistance:
- Form controls include labels and help text by default to ensure no critical context is ever missing.
- Deliberately excluded problematic anti-patterns such as tooltips, disabled buttons, and placeholder text.
- Components feature pre-validated, accessible color pairings so designers never have to guess "what color is compliant?"
Stress Testing via Workshops
I validated the library’s flexibility by having designers use it to rebuild complex, external pages like Twitter. This revealed component gaps immediately and served as a training ground for designers to navigate the system's "principled constraints" without falling back on old habits.
Strategic Insights and Evergreen Lessons
Mandate vs. Reality
I was recruited specifically to spearhead the design system, yet despite four years of proven ROI in design velocity and risk mitigation, I couldn't bridge the gap to a company-wide engineering rollout because leadership remained focused on short-term features over long-term infrastructure.
Strategic Pivot
Despite being hired to build a cross-functional system, I had to adapt my strategy when engineering buy-in stalled. I pivoted to focus on maximizing the UX team's internal efficiency, resulting in a ~400k+ component insertion rate even without a mirrored code library.
Accessibility Strategy
This experience drove me to codify my approach to accessibility and systems thinking. I published four articles to share the deeper strategic frameworks I developed during this journey:
- Designing collections for mobile web experiences
- Designing Hazel’s Accessible Color System
- Resolving complex forms with OOUX
- A systematic approach to generating enterprise UI color palettes
Let's connect
I'm always up for a chat about design, working together, and .
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