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Designing for accessibility from day one
Devin
Accessibility isn't a checklist you bolt on at the end. It's a set of habits that make your product better for every user.
Most teams treat accessibility as a final audit before launch. By then it's too late — the colours are picked, the components are built, and a fix is a refactor.
Bake it in early
We treat accessibility as a design constraint from the very first wireframe. Colour contrast, focus order, and keyboard navigation are decided alongside the layout, not after it.
What we always check
Before any page ships, we run through a fixed list:
- Every interactive element is reachable with the keyboard alone.
- Every image has either alt text or is explicitly marked decorative.
- Body text contrast is at least 4.5:1 against the background.
- Focus rings are visible on a non-default background colour.
- Animations respect the user's `prefers-reduced-motion` setting.
None of these are hard. They just need to be habits, not afterthoughts.