Making Accessibility an Integral Part of Design Workflows Through Figma Variables

The pursuit of true digital accessibility within organizations is a journey demanding resilience and sustained effort. It’s a common pitfall for discussions on accessibility to devolve into well-worn platitudes. While statements like "accessibility is crucial for people," "digital product accessibility fosters inclusion," and "all team members should be involved" are undeniably true, they often fall short of providing practical solutions. The critical, yet frequently unaddressed, question for many companies is: how can these principles be effectively integrated into the demanding, fast-paced realities of digital transformation teams? This article explores how innovative tools and methodologies, such as Figma variables, are transforming the approach to accessibility, making it an inherent part of the design process rather than an afterthought.

The core challenge lies in embedding accessibility seamlessly into daily operations. The traditional dichotomy of choosing between implementing a feature and addressing accessibility often leads to the latter being sidelined, a reality that necessitates a paradigm shift. Accessibility is no longer merely an additional feature; it represents a significant business value and, increasingly, a legal imperative with potentially severe consequences for non-compliance. The good news is that intelligent, optimized, and impactful methods exist to weave accessibility into the natural fabric of team workflows, a concept embodied by AccessibilityOps. This approach empowers individuals and equips teams with straightforward processes, enabling them to integrate accessibility into their routines without undue burden.

Accessibility in Design: A Versatile Perspective

Designing for digital accessibility encompasses a range of crucial actions. Beyond the fundamental considerations of color contrast and appropriate interaction element sizes, a paramount principle is adopting a versatile design perspective. An interface is not a static poster; it’s a dynamic entity that users interact with under an almost infinite array of conditions. Device types, user contexts, network speeds, and individual needs all profoundly shape the user experience. When accessibility concerns are integrated from the outset, they add another layer of informed decision-making to this complex interplay of variables.

A significant aspect of this user-centric approach involves understanding and accommodating assistive technologies and strategies. These are the tools and techniques individuals employ to personalize their interaction with digital products. Screen readers, vital for many users including those with visual impairments, are a prime example. Similarly, adjustments to color schemes or contrast ratios, and critically, font size increases, are all assistive strategies that users leverage to enhance their experience. The sheer diversity of these technologies and strategies underscores the need for designs that are inherently adaptable.

The Uncontrollable User Experience

From a designer’s standpoint, the "bad news" is that our carefully crafted designs are subject to user-driven transformations that we do not directly control. This is, however, a positive development. When users can successfully adapt an interface to their needs using assistive technologies, it signifies that the design has effectively incorporated accessibility principles. Conversely, if users encounter barriers despite employing these tools, it indicates a deficiency in the design’s accessibility. It is crucial to refrain from blocking these assistive technologies, as they are essential for enabling a broader range of users to engage with digital applications. The ultimate goal of designing for all people, without exception, is best served by embracing and supporting these user adaptations.

The Critical Importance of Font Size Increase

The issue of text legibility is a frequent pain point. Many individuals, from friends and family to colleagues, have likely voiced concerns about text being too small in digital interfaces. Text is the primary vehicle for conveying information, from usage instructions and button labels to interactive element cues. When reading these elements becomes a struggle, the user experience is severely compromised.

Ensuring comfortable text readability is a non-negotiable design principle. While designing with appropriate font sizes is foundational, assistive technologies that allow users to increase font size play an equally vital role. Data from APPT (February 2026) indicates that a substantial 26% of Android and iOS mobile device users actively increase the default font size on their devices. This translates to one in four smartphone users relying on this functionality, making it an indispensable consideration in design processes.

Compliance with Accessibility Guidelines: The 200% Rule

The challenge of accommodating increased font sizes in user interfaces can be significant. A critical benchmark is established by Success Criterion 1.4.4, "Resizing Text," within the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2. This criterion, at the AA compliance level, mandates that "text can be resized without assistive technology up to 200% without loss of content or functionality." This is a legally binding requirement in many jurisdictions.

The 200% threshold signifies that text should be scalable to double its initial size without compromising content or functionality. While designers might work with a 100% scale, the interface must gracefully accommodate text enlargements to 120%, 140%, and up to 200%. Importantly, WCAG does not require interfaces to provide their own text resizing tools. Instead, the expectation is that the design will function correctly when users utilize the built-in accessibility features of their devices or browsers. Users who rely on these settings are already accustomed to them, and redundant in-app controls can clutter the interface and detract from the core user experience.

Standardized Access to Assistive Features

A key principle regarding assistive technologies, particularly font size adjustment, is that most modern devices and platforms offer these capabilities natively. This means users do not typically need to acquire specialized software or hardware to access essential accessibility features. Mobile operating systems and web browsers alike integrate robust options for adjusting font sizes across the entire interface.

On iOS devices, for instance, font size adjustments are readily available through the "Settings" app. Navigating to "Accessibility" and then "Text Size and Display" allows users to configure their preferred font size. Similarly, web browsers like Google Chrome provide font size controls within their "Appearance" settings, allowing users to select from various predefined sizes, such as "Medium," "Large," or "Very Large." This standardization ensures that users can consistently access these vital features across different applications and websites.

Leveraging Figma Variables for Enhanced Testing

To truly integrate accessibility into the daily routines of design teams, simple, effective work processes are paramount. These processes should be adaptable and require minimal disruption to existing workflows. The advent of tools like Figma has revolutionized design capabilities, making previously complex tasks, such as testing font size increases for accessibility, far more manageable and almost intrinsic to the design flow.

Achieving effective font size testing within Figma hinges on a strong understanding of its core features: text styles, auto layouts, and variables. Mastering these elements is fundamental to implementing this testing methodology efficiently.

The Objective: Dynamic Font Scaling in Figma

The goal is to create a system within Figma where a set of variables allows designers to dynamically adjust the text size across all text styles within an interface. This enables immediate visualization of the interface at various scales, from 100% to 200% and beyond, in increments like 120%, 140%, 160%, and 180%. By applying these variable sets, similar to switching between light and dark modes, designers can observe how text reflows and identify necessary layout adaptations for each typographic scale.

Implementing the Font Size Increase Test: A Step-by-Step Guide

While this is not a prescriptive guide, as team workflows vary, the following steps provide a structured approach to organizing files and executing font size increase tests effectively in Figma.

1. Interface Design: The foundational step involves designing each interface with standard accessibility best practices in mind. At this stage, the primary focus is on creating usable and visually sound designs, with the font size test considered a subsequent validation phase.

2. Applying Auto Layouts: Meticulous application of Auto Layout to all design elements and frames is critical. This ensures that as text scales, the surrounding elements adapt proportionally, preventing layout disruptions. A robust application of Auto Layout is the bedrock for a scalable interface.

   

3. Structuring and Applying Text Styles: Every text element within the design must be associated with a defined text style. This systematic approach is essential for the variable-driven testing process to function correctly.

4. Defining Base Variables (100% Scale): This stage involves creating Figma "number" variables for key text style properties, primarily font-size and line-height. These variables establish the reference point for a 100% scaled view, representing the initial, standard design. It’s important to define these variables for each text style to accurately manage scaling.

   

5. Applying Variables to Text Styles: The defined base variables are then applied to the corresponding properties within each text style. This ensures that the text styles dynamically respond to variable changes.

6. Defining Variables for Increased Text Sizes: Next, variables are created for the desired font size increase scales (e.g., 120%, 140%, 160%, 180%, 200%). This is achieved by calculating the new font-size and line-height values by multiplying the base values by the respective scale percentages. For instance, a base font size of 16px at 120% would become 19.2px (16 * 1.2). Rounding can be applied as needed for practical testing.

   

7. Applying Variables to Different Scale Versions: To test, duplicate the original interface. For each duplicate, apply the set of variables corresponding to a specific font size increase scale. This creates distinct versions of the interface for each tested scale.

8. Identifying Areas for Improvement: By comparing the various scaled versions of the interface, designers can pinpoint areas where text may overlap, become truncated, or obscure other elements. This visual analysis is crucial for identifying design flaws related to text scaling.

   

9. Making Corrections and Adjustments: Based on the analysis, necessary design modifications are made. Some adjustments may be addressable directly in Figma through Auto Layout refinements, while others might require documentation for the development team to implement in code.

10. Iteration and Repetition: This testing process is cyclical. It should be repeated throughout the project lifecycle as designs evolve. While some steps may become more streamlined with experience and process optimization, the core principle of continuous accessibility testing remains vital.

    

The Enabling Role of Design Systems

The steps outlined above are significantly facilitated by the presence of a robust design system. Design systems, now a de facto standard in product design, provide a structured library of components and styles, streamlining the implementation of such tests. If a design system already incorporates variables for elements like light and dark modes, applying similar principles for font scaling becomes a natural extension.

Design systems, rather than limiting creativity, liberate designers from repetitive, "bureaucratic" tasks, freeing up time for critical activities like accessibility testing. This structured approach is instrumental in building more inclusive products and services.

An Illustrative Figma File

To provide a practical demonstration, a freely accessible Figma file is available, showcasing the complete font size increase testing process. This example serves as a starting point, encouraging teams to adapt the methodology to their specific contexts, maturity levels, and existing workflows. The key takeaway is that accessibility efforts, even small incremental improvements, should be celebrated as significant steps forward.