Accessibility isn’t just a checkbox — it’s about making sure everyone can use the digital world equally. With the European Accessibility Act coming into effect by June 2025, designers and developers need to step up. This post explains what accessibility really means, why it matters for both users and businesses, and how you can start embedding it into your design systems today.
What is accessibility?
In the web world accessibility refers to the practice of designing and developing websites and online content in a way that ensures they can be easily used by all people, regardless of their characteristics or limitations.
This includes:
- individuals with visual impairments who rely on screen readers,
- those with hearing difficulties who may need captions or
- people with motor challenges who use alternative input devices like voice recognition or switches.
The goal is to remove barriers that might prevent these people from navigating, understanding, or interacting with digital content.
“The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Founding Director and inventor of the World Wide Web
European Accessibility Act (EAA) — what you need to know
European Accessibility Act is a new EU directive to standardize accessibility. It aims to improve products and services to be more accessible by removing barriers caused by differences in a member country specific rules.
This act applies to any business operating in the European Union that provides digital products or services to EU customers, for example e-commerce platforms, banking services, streaming platforms or any kind of software products.
There are some exceptions though — companies with less than 10 employees and with annual turnover not exceeding 2 million €. However it does not mean that it should be ignored.
The deadline for implementing requirements of the European Accessibility Act is June 28, 2025. On this day, compliance will become a legal requirement.
Does that mean you are breaking the law with your current product? No. By this date, you need to have:
- Evaluated the accessibility of your product or service
- Implemented accessibility measures
- Published an accessibility statement (in most countries)
Content published before June 28, 2025 does not have to automatically meet the new standards immediately. If a product or service was already available before this date, the deadline to stop using inaccessible products or services is June 28, 2030.
However, any significant updates or redesigns after June 28, 2025 would already need to meet accessibility requirements.
Laws and regulations regarding the accessibility are not specific for EU only. Businesses that sell products and services overseas will benefit from implementing accessibility as in the United States there is Americans with Disabilities Act, Canada has Accessible Canada Act or Disability Discrimination Act and you can find Equality Act in UK legislation.
Which things are affected?
The EAA directive expects us to conform with WCAG 2.1 Level AA criteria at minimum, for example:
- Captions are provided for all live audio content
- Audio description provided for all prerecorded video content (including description of written text in video, e.g. presentation)
- Visual presentation of text and images of text with sufficient color contrast
- Users should be able to resize the text without assistive technology up to 200 percent without loss of content or functionality
- Headings and labels are descriptive enough to describe the topic or purpose (so no more “Read more” link labels)
- Keyboard focus indicator is visible with enough contrast to the surrounding environment
- Each field in forms has a label, this label is clear and helps understand how to fill the field
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1
It's not just about the law
We shouldn't pay attention to accessibility just because of the laws and directives. According to WHO, an estimated 1.3 billion people experience significant disability worldwide, which represents approximately 16% of the global population.
Accessibility is essential because it ensures that everyone, regardless of their abilities, has equal access to information, spaces, services and opportunities. It empowers people with disabilities to live more independently and participate actively in society.
It also allows them to access education, employment, healthcare, transportation and even entertainment, reducing reliance on others and improves quality of life. And that creates a more open, fair, inclusive and empathetic society.
Last, but not least, inaccessible products and services might end up in lost revenue and less competitivness. Companies that prioritize building accessible products and services will attract more customers, saves more costs and stay ahead of any possible future regulations than companies that won‘t pay attention now and will struggle to catch up later.
How to add accessibility to designs and design systems?
It is about setting the mindset not only for designers, but for entire team. Thinking how to create accessible experiences should be part of our everyday agenda.
There are few essential rules that every designer should memorize and incorporate into their design creation process, such as:
- minimum contrast ratio for colors,
- best practices for readability of the font used for headlines or body text,
- check of various visual impairments, so important information isn't presented by color alone,
- clear and visible focus states for interactive elements, responsive layouts and documentation.
The design system team should perform regular accessibility audits and user tests of components, patterns and pages, as during the time there might be many new features or changes added to the product or service that might break some of the accessibility standards.
You can't get more valuable feedback than from users with disabilities as assistive technologies are natural part of their lives and you can better understand how can be your product or service accessed.
Golden rule here is, that by embedding accessibility into the design and design system already from the start, not only you create an inclusive foundation that benefits all users but also reduces future efforts.
Accessibility testing should be automated wherever it‘s possible and it should also be part of the development workflow. Integrating various tools like Lighthouse, axe DevTools, Storybook, use of screen readers or adding automated accessibility checks to the CI/CD pipeline adds an extra layer that can help the whole team to understand and learn to deliver accessible products or services.
What tools are there to give you a hand?
- Stark — contrast & accessibility checker — https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/732603254453395948/stark-contrast-accessibility-checker
- Web accessibility annotation kit by CVS Health — https://www.figma.com/community/file/1311421011482282592
- WCAG plugin — https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1373362852131056921/wcag-plugin
- Axe Accessibility Tools — https://www.deque.com/axe/
Start small, stay consistent
We all differ in our abilities to interact with the world and consume information. As designers, we are on the mission to create designs, products and services that allow as many people as possible to access them by default.
Start small, stay consistent, and remember: inclusive design is just good design.
Design without barriers: Getting ready for the European Accessibility Act (EAA) was originally published in ableneo tech & transformation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.