StreamWave rebuilds its design system around low-vision experiences after internal audit

Design · 5 min read

StreamWave's audit revealed that a single shared color token and compressed spacing scale were causing persistent usability problems for low-vision users and those relying on screen magnifiers. The company's design system team responded by adopting a new token strategy that exposes multiple contrast-aware palettes and spacing scales keyed to user preference.

Key technical changes include dynamic token switching at runtime, explicit focus outline tokens, and responsive component states that reduce reliance on hover-only interactions. The updated library also ships with a low-vision theme as a first-class option rather than a separate accessibility fork, allowing the system to support inclusive defaults out of the box.

Designers at StreamWave reported that making accessibility defaults the baseline reduced the number of one-off fixes during feature launches. The company plans to publish its migration playbook and component-level learnings for other teams facing similar challenges.