Products for All Design Kit

Company: Google

Role: Creative Lead, Foundations UX

Date: Jan 2024 – Present

The bottom line

As accessibility initiatives scaled across Alphabet, horizontal teams lacked a unified visual language to communicate complex standards, affecting trust and efficiency. As Visual Consistency Lead for our cross-product area accessibility working group, I defined the foundational strategy and tenets for a solution. After shipping of V1, I returned as Creative Lead to run assess and evolve the MVP, leading a team of 3 designers, 1 UX Writer, and 2 interns.

Phase I

Setting the architectural vision I directed an initial working group of 4 UX professionals to establish the core visual tenets for accessible design illustration, piloting the principles across documentation to prove that visuals could demystify complex compliance requirements. Once validated, these findings were handed off to an engineering-ready pod to build out the V1 launch.

Phase II

Running the strategic gap analysis After V1 launched, I returned as Lead to audit its current state. With interaction and visual design expertise, I identified critical gaps where to support scaling and address highly complex accessibility criteria.

Phase III

Leading from the front to simplify and scale To execute the evolution, I stood up and directed a dedicated squad consisting of 3 UX Designers, 1 UX Writer, and 2 UXD interns.

Component cleanup: Designed new foundational components while systematically reviewing all contributor additions.
Simplification: Stripped away unneeded complexity, focusing on an agnostic visual style to maximize comprehension.
Governance: Oversee deployment and scaling of the new component structures across team.

Impact

The P4A Design Kit successfully scaled across the Products for All UX, and further, our cross-product area accessibility working group. By demystifying complex accessible design principles through visual components, we empowered teams to build inclusive products more efficiently and consistently.

Note: Due to the proprietary nature of my work at Google, product specifics have been abstracted in this presentation.