The Company was changing quickly: new ecommerce platforms, a move to composable architecture, a global design system rollout, and new accessibility regulation across its markets, led by the European Accessibility Act.
Change on that scale is when accessibility is cheapest to build in. Every new template, component and content process was a chance to set the standard once, rather than check it again on every release.
As Senior UX Researcher and accessibility lead, I set up an organisation-wide approach that treats accessibility as part of product quality, risk management and customer trust, not as a separate compliance task.
The work was structural: giving design, development, content and QA a shared standard, clear ownership and checkpoints that keep accessibility part of everyday decisions at the pace teams ship.
The accessibility programme was built on four parallel pillars designed to embed accessibility into everyday decisions rather than treated as a separate stage. It covers four kinds of touchpoint: the consumer shop, a B2B site, a learning platform for staff and an online community.
Accessibility Governance and Foundations
I authored and introduced an accessibility roadmap aligned with WCAG 2.2 AA and tailored to the Company’s platforms and component libraries. It defined responsibility boundaries, acceptance criteria, mandatory checkpoints, and escalation paths. I lead a steering committee of legal, technology, ecommerce and the owner of each touchpoint, and accessibility requirements are written into supplier contracts, so agencies build and test against them from the start.
Embedding Accessibility in the Design System
Working with design and engineering leads, I integrated accessibility requirements directly into component specifications, including semantic structure, contrast constraints, keyboard behaviour, error handling, and inclusive copy guidance.
Continuous Audits and Behavioural Validation
I established an audit programme combining automated scanning, manual WCAG reviews, and observation of screen reader workflows. Screen reader testing runs in-house.
Cross-Functional Enablement
I supported teams with training and lightweight tooling, including accessibility office hours, pattern libraries with dos and don’ts, sprint-level checklists, and pre-release smoke tests.
The Checkout Experience
Checkout was prioritised due to its complexity and revenue sensitivity. I supported the redesign by mapping the screen reader journey, standardising form structures, aligning validation logic, and ensuring dynamic steps were announced and focus-managed.
Particular attention went to the move between checkout steps: each change of step is announced and focus moves to the new content, so screen reader users always know where they are and every customer gets a clear sense of progress.
Component-Level Accessibility
Accessibility was defined at component level for accordions, tabs, filters, product carousels and heading structures.
Setting it in the design system means the same behaviour reaches every market, rather than being solved again in local variations.
Accessibility Monitoring and Dashboards
To support prioritisation, I introduced a structured way of tracking accessibility over time: automated scan trends, component quality, and where effort has most effect.
Evidence at component level proved most useful for prioritisation. It showed that work on a shared component pays back across every market and release, which made the case for design-system investment over page-level work.
Redefining Content Practices
Accessibility extended beyond UI components. I worked with content and marketing teams to evolve alt-text practices, heading usage, link naming, and inclusive copywriting standards. Alt text now follows a shared framework across 11 languages, and each description records where it came from, so a reviewer can tell what was generated, what came from product data and what a person checked.
These standards give assistive technologies a clear structure and keep cognitive load low for everyone. Structure, not shorter content, is what makes pages readable.
The accessibility programme reshaped how the organisation approached digital quality.
Strategic Impact
Accessibility became part of the standard definition of done, and platform migrations launched with accessibility built in from the start.
User Impact
Screen reader journeys follow consistent patterns, and form-heavy flows such as checkout, account creation and repairs give clear progression at every step.
Organisational Impact
Design system teams adopted accessibility-first component governance. Development teams integrated checks into CI/CD workflows. Content and marketing teams embedded inclusive writing practices as standard.
The clearest signal of change was the integration of accessibility criteria directly into the design system’s component acceptance process: no new component or update could ship without meeting accessibility requirements.
Accessibility moved from specialist review to shared expectation.
Accessibility is not a sprint deliverable. It is an organisational capability.
This work demonstrated that sustainable improvement depends on shared ownership, clear standards, early intervention, continuous validation, and a unified source of truth.
It also reinforced a core NN/g principle: accessible design improves usability for everyone.
The foundation established here supports every future platform, every market rollout, and every digital experience the Company will launch.
Alessandro Zulberti is a UX researcher and accessibility lead. More about my work.