Figma introduces Accessibility Tokens and Contrast Audit plugin for design systems

Design · 4 min read

Figma's new Accessibility Tokens feature creates a first-class layer in files for accessibility metadata tied to colors, typography, motion, and spacing. Designers can now attach semantic accessibility attributes — such as recommended minimum contrast ratios, motion-reduced alternatives, and recommended text-scaling limits — to tokens that propagate through components and variants in a design system.

To complement tokens, Figma published a Contrast Audit plugin that runs across pages and flags token usage that violates configured constraints. The plugin generates a report grouped by component instance and suggests corrective tokens or color remappings, helping teams catch accessibility issues early in the design phase rather than during QA cycles.

Early adopters say the combined feature set simplified governance for large component libraries: design ops teams can now enforce accessibility gates and provide automated remediation suggestions at export. Figma also released an API that allows design systems to sync tokens and audit metadata with engineering toolchains and storybook environments for runtime validation.