Scottish Power — App Accessibility Project
Background
The Scottish Power app had no meaningful accessibility support. Screen readers couldn't navigate it on iOS or Android, colour contrast failed WCAG standards, focus states were missing, and the design system was fragmented across platforms with no shared documentation or governance. Accessibility wasn't part of any design or development workflow — it simply wasn't anyone's responsibility.
Challenge
Rebuild the iOS and Android design systems from the ground up to make the app fully accessible, then prove the approach worked through a high-traffic journey redesign — all within existing delivery timelines with no dedicated research resource and no clear strategy inherited from the team.
Impact
Rebuilt the full iOS and Android design system component by component
with accessibility baked in from the start
Every component documented
full screen reader behaviour, dynamic type support, colour modes, focus states, developer handoff
Card payments journey redesigned end to end
validated through usability testing as the proof of concept
Accessibility annotations standardised
one element, one annotation, shared across iOS and Android
Design system and patterns shared with the wider team
creating a shared source of truth where none had existed
My role
Senior Product Designer — solo designer across accessibility strategy, design system rebuild, component documentation, journey redesign, and developer handoff
Team
Scottish Power product and engineering teams, working within existing delivery squads
Company
Scottish Power
Timeline
May 2024 – May 2025
Platform
iOS & Android — Scottish Power mobile app
The Problem
The app served millions of energy customers but was inaccessible to anyone using a screen reader, keyboard navigation, or dynamic type. The audit found screen readers couldn't navigate the app on iOS or Android, key accessibility features like focus states and semantic labels were absent, colour contrast failed WCAG throughout, and there was no parity between iOS, Android, and web — each platform had diverged into its own set of components and patterns with no documentation and no governance.
Accessibility wasn't failing because the team didn't care. It was failing because it had never been assigned to anyone and had no home in the workflow.
My Role
I owned the accessibility project end to end. There was no research resource, no pre-existing strategy, and no roadmap. I defined the approach, built it, tested it, documented it, and socialised it across the team.
What I owned: full accessibility audit across iOS and Android, iOS and Android design system rebuild component by component, accessibility annotation framework for developer handoff, card payments journey redesign as the proof of concept, usability testing with internal participants, and knowledge sharing across the wider design and engineering team.
The Approach
Audit first, build second. Before designing anything, I audited the existing app against iOS and Android accessibility guidelines, reviewed analytics to identify high-traffic journeys, and spoke to stakeholders to understand what had been tried before. The audit surfaced five distinct problem areas: no screen reader support, inconsistent components, no documentation, accessibility absent from the workflow, and no shared ownership.
Rebuild from the foundation. Rather than patching the existing system, I rebuilt the design system component by component with accessibility built in from the start. Each component was specified for colour contrast, focus states, dynamic type, dark mode, high contrast mode, and screen reader behaviour. One element, one annotation.
Prove it in a real journey. I used the card payments journey as the proof of concept, running the redesigned accessible components through a complete end-to-end flow and testing it with internal participants. The before and after showed what was now possible at scale.
Make it stick. I documented everything and shared the system with the wider team. The goal wasn't just to fix one journey but to give designers and developers a shared source of truth they could build from going forward.
The Outcome
A fully rebuilt iOS and Android design system with accessibility standards embedded at component level, a redesigned card payments journey as the first fully accessible high-traffic flow, and an annotation framework that gave engineers everything they needed to implement correctly. For the first time, the team had a shared foundation and a clear process for how accessibility gets designed, documented, and built.
What I'd Do Differently
Testing with real users who have access needs, not just internal participants. The constraints meant usability testing was done internally, which was better than nothing but not sufficient for a project of this scope. I'd push earlier and harder to recruit participants who actually rely on screen readers and other assistive technology. Their feedback would have sharpened the decisions I had to make on instinct and from guidelines alone.