A designer-first, prescriptive framework to prevent accessibility issues before they occur, by asking designers, design system teams, and content designers to tweak the way they work just a little.
This resource was built with the intention of providing prescriptive accessibility guidance rather than making designers, product owners and leadership learn about accessibility guidelines. The focus is on practical methods over intricate details — akin to a doctor's advice: "Take these tablets twice a day and drink hot tea!"
What problem does it solve?
Most WCAG guidelines are built for engineers and testers rather than designers. Designers struggle to "prevent" accessibility issues early because the resources are not prescriptive, simple or tailored to mobile apps.
What makes it innovative?
- Introduces a ritual-based methodology, reframing accessibility as daily design habits rather than compliance checklists
- Positions accessibility as a preventive practice — integrated at the design and component level rather than during QA or development
- Shifts focus from testing to intention, encouraging designers to design elements with accessibility logic embedded from the beginning
- Defines a "logical component" system, helping teams group UI elements based on meaning and screen reader behavior, over visual grouping
- Maps rituals directly to WCAG success criteria, allowing even non-certified teams to align with global standards through routine actions, without mentioning complex guidelines or success criteria
- Blends POUR principles with mobile-specific contexts, showing designers how Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust principles apply on small screens
- Promotes the use of everyday tools (e.g., Figma, Google Lens, Android TalkBack, iOS VoiceOver) as part of the ritual toolkit, making it more approachable
- Ties mobile accessibility to business impact, demonstrating how early interventions reduce long-term remediation costs and improve product equity
- Creates a shared vocabulary for product teams, introducing concepts like "sequence number" and "Handover titles"
Who is this for?
Designers
You'll learn how to design accessible mobile interfaces that are easy to use for everyone, regardless of their abilities to improve user satisfaction, without memorizing the complex guidelines.
Product Managers
You'll learn how to create a business case to make the leadership invest in accessibility-led design and development to increase user base.
Governance Teams
You'll learn how to create and implement accessibility guidelines for your design system and how to build a logical-block based design system.
UI Engineer
You'll learn to speak the same language as the designers, resulting in an effective handover, which will in turn reduce accessibility issues and reduce support costs.
Marketing Teams
You'll learn how to create accessible content for publications and social media, and also how to manage a brand kit and enhance brand reputation.
Product Owner
You'll learn how to make the apps accessible by investing the right efforts at the right time to avoid legal liability, especially in countries like the US (Section 508, ADA), Canada (AODA, AMA), EU (EAA), Australia, Japan and the UK (Equality Act 2010).
Impact Potential
- Makes accessibility preventive rather than reactive
- Applicable across entire product teams — Design, PM, Dev, Branding, Marketing
- Encourages budget-sensitive organisations to adopt early accessibility with minimal external consultation and by using easily available free tools
Recognition
"Aashutosh has translated WCAG for mobile consumption! Well-structured and an easy read."
"A must-read for mid-level designers. The intent-based approach is easy to adopt."
"Fluid, useful, and a good break from theory. The four pillars are easy to implement."