Fable

We’re heading to the UX360 Summit in Atlanta next week! This year’s conference focuses on how UX researchers can have more impact across teams and shape decisions, including how we design with and for people with disabilities. If you’re attending, our team would love to connect: - Toan Dinh, CEO - Jesse Mirsky, Manager of Customer Success - Richard Royal Hiladie, Head of Sales - Erin McLellan, Senior Event Manager Let us know if you'll be there!

What does it take to scale accessibility across large product teams? Our latest report breaks down how teams at Target, U.S. Bank, Warner Music Group, and The Cigna Group are approaching it. - Warner Music Group built accessibility directly into their design system - Target embeds accessibility champions in product teams - The Cigna Group created a Center of Excellence to guide teams across the organization What these approaches have in common is how they distribute accessibility knowledge across teams, rather than relying on a single group of experts. As Jamie Revelle, Director of Digital Equity at The Cigna Group, puts it: “Strong central leadership paired with distributed responsibility is what allows accessibility to scale. It’s not because one team touches everything, but because the organization as a whole becomes more capable, confident, and accountable for building inclusive experiences.” If you’re working to scale accessibility across design, product, or engineering teams, our report with Design Executive Council shares practical examples from organizations doing this at enterprise scale. Download the report now: https://lnkd.in/eABmzXFR

At U.S. Bank, a small accessibility fix led to a better experience for everyone. Blind and low-vision customers were having trouble knowing when their check was positioned correctly in mobile deposit. The team introduced automatic image capture and voice prompts to guide the process. Those changes solved the problem and made the experience faster and easier for all customers. As Marissa Woodbeck, Head of Digital Accessibility, Experience Design, puts it: “1 in 4 Americans lives with a disability, but accessible design benefits the other 3 as well, including everyone from people recovering from temporary injuries to someone balancing 3 bags of groceries.” We see this play out across product categories: designing accessible features improves the experience for all users. Get more examples of this from Target, Warner Music Group, and The Cigna Group in our latest report, The Accessibility Advantage. Download the report today: https://lnkd.in/eABmzXFR

There’s a common thread through our conversations with design leaders from Target, U.S. Bank, Warner Music Group, and The Cigna Group: accessibility doesn’t slow things down. In fact, with accessibility built into the product development process, teams can ship high-quality products faster and improve customer experiences. Here are four ways these teams are making accessibility work in practice: 1. Shared ownership trumps centralized control. 2. Use accessibility in design systems to scale what works. 3. Activate champions and accountability. 4. Embed accessibility into everyday workflows. Jamie Revelle, Director of Digital Equity at The Cigna Group puts it best: “Excellence means designing governance that helps teams succeed. Strong central leadership paired with distributed responsibility is what allows accessibility to scale. It’s not because one team touches everything but because the organization as a whole becomes more capable, confident, and accountable for building inclusive experiences.” Our latest blog breaks down these four approaches and other key insights from our latest webinar. Read the full blog post here: https://lnkd.in/eBijwKyy

Accessibility work often starts with guidelines like WCAG. And these guidelines are important for identifying many common accessibility barriers. But some usability challenges can only be surfaced through real-world use. In a new article by Jeffrey Guerrero, he shares what his team at Mozilla learned by working with Fable to research and test their digital products with Fable’s Community of people with disabilities. This line from one of his team members puts it simply: “This kind of research should be a standard part of the design process.” Inclusive design requires learning directly from the people you're designing for. Pairing accessibility standards with insights from people’s lived experiences leads to stronger, more usable experiences. Read Jeff's full article: https://lnkd.in/g652EnPG

Accessibility doesn’t have to be expensive, but fixing it late usually is. U.S. Bank has found that fixing accessibility issues in production can cost 3-4 times more than addressing them during design or testing. So where does that cost come from? “We’ll fix it later” turns into redesigning flows that already shipped, reworking code that’s already live, and squeezing fixes into tight timelines. By shifting left to bring accessibility into discovery and design, teams can: - Catch issues earlier - Avoid rework later - Keep things moving with fewer last-minute fixes One of the clearest takeaways from Fable's latest report with Design Executive Council is that accessibility becomes much easier (and less costly) when it isn’t left until the end. Caleb Schmidt, Senior Vice President and Head of Experience Design at U.S. Bank says: “Investing upfront isn’t just smart – it’s a proven strategy to save time, reduce expenses, and deliver high-quality experiences.” If you’re working on scaling accessibility across design and product teams, our latest report shares how organizations like U.S. Bank, Target, Warner Music Group, and The Cigna Group are approaching it. Download the report to see what shifting left can look like in practice: https://lnkd.in/eABmzXFR

We’re excited to announce the release of a new research report: The Accessibility Advantage: How accessible experience design unlocks business value and innovation We collaborated with Design Executive Council to explore how leading organizations are approaching accessibility in product design. The report includes insights from design and accessibility leaders at: - U.S. Bank - Warner Music Group - Target - The Cigna Group These organizations are responsible for products used by millions of people, and they shared how accessibility is shaping the way their teams design and build. Across these companies, one learning came up again and again: Accessibility has the greatest impact when it’s integrated early and often. If you're part of a UX research, design, product, or accessibility team thinking about how to scale this work, we hope this research is helpful. Download the report today: https://lnkd.in/eABmzXFR

What tips do design and accessibility leaders have for making accessibility work at scale? We asked executives from leading companies to share what has worked for them. In tomorrow’s webinar, Jamie Revelle, Marissa Woodbeck, Christina Goldschmidt, Christina Vallery, and others will share their experience growing accessibility programs and driving change across their organizations. Join us live to hear from The Cigna Group, Warner Music Group, U.S. Bank and Target: Wednesday, March 18 1:00–2:00 PM EST Register now: https://lnkd.in/euTcEGnH All registrants will also receive a copy of a new accessibility report from Fable and Design Executive Council.

Always great to connect with partners and the broader accessibility community at CSUN! Working with Level Access brings together findings from their platform with user insights from Fable’s Community of people with disabilities. Glad to be doing this work together.

How are leading companies turning accessibility into a business advantage? In our upcoming webinar, you’ll hear directly from executives who are making it happen. Leaders from Warner Music Group, U.S. Bank, Target, and The Cigna Group will share how accessibility is helping their teams unlock better products, stronger user experiences, and broader business impact. - Christina Goldschmidt, VP, Product Design, Warner Music Group - Cody Evol, Director, Product Design, Warner Music Group - Marissa Woodbeck, Head of Digital Accessibility, Experience Design, U.S. Bank - Purvi Shah, VP, Head of UX Design, Research, and Accessibility, Target - Jake Konerza, Senior Director, Digital Accessibility, Target - Christina Vallery, Chief Design Officer, The Cigna Group - Jamie Revelle, Director, Digital Equity, The Cigna Group Join us live to get their perspectives and learn what it takes to make accessibility a core business capability. Wednesday, March 18 1:00–2:00 PM EST All registrants will also receive a copy of a new accessibility report from Fable and Design Executive Council. Register today: https://lnkd.in/euTcEGnH