Adobe XD adds built-in accessibility audit for shared design systems

Design · 4 min read

Adobe announced a new accessibility audit module for XD today that runs against shared design system libraries. The tool flags missing semantic roles, insufficient color contrast in tokens, and components that lack accessible states or keyboard focus styles. It can be run manually in the editor or configured to run automatically when a team publishes a library update.

The audit maps findings back to the design system model: tokens, components, and usage guidelines. For example, a token flagged for insufficient contrast includes the token name, the components that consume it, and a suggested replacement token with compliant contrast. Component-level issues return pointers to missing ARIA semantics, absent visible focus indicators, and missing text alternatives for icon-only controls.

Teams can export audit results as a JSON report that integrates with existing design-system CI pipelines, or open fail-safe pull requests against published library branches. Adobe says the goal is to shift accessibility left in organizations that rely on shared design systems and to reduce handoffs that introduce accessibility debt during engineering implementation.