Making an Accessibility Company’s
Emails Accessible

Level Access helps organizations make their digital products accessible to people with disabilities. After a brand refresh, its emails needed to catch up. The team brought me in on a two-month contract to build nine email templates, one for each email type.

The team built each new email by copying an old one and swapping in content, making every build slower than it needed to be. Copying old emails also spread outdated branding and accessibility gaps—a real risk for an accessibility company.

The original plan called for nine separate templates, but most would have been near-identical. Each would need its own accessibility review and upkeep. The team needed fewer, smarter building blocks.

I proposed fewer templates built by layout, with reusable sections so any layout could serve any type of email.

The design team designed the sections. I rebuilt them in HubSpot, showed what worked, and explained platform limits so design could revise. Before committing, I checked with email marketing whether drag-and-drop sections would actually save them time.

Past sends mostly used simple layouts, so I added three lighter variations to avoid repeatedly deleting sections. About 25 saved sections covered common variations. The brand team also created reusable images, including generic dashboards and charts, for emails that could not wait for a custom design request.

Flexible templates

6

templates delivered

Three layouts plus three lighter variations.

Reusable sections

~25

saved sections in HubSpot

Common content variations, including speaker blocks for one to four webinar speakers.

Reviewed, documented, and handed off to the team.

Reusable email-section system

1. Review accessibility throughout

   Through several review rounds, we fixed alt text, which describes images for people using screen readers, and removed hidden screen-reader labels where they were not needed. We gave the footer a clear heading so screen readers could announce it.

2. Make the checks repeatable

   I added accessibility checks to the QA checklist and had writers supply image descriptions with their copy, helping keep those fixes from slipping later.

3. Clarify ownership

   Requesters owned the message, design owned the look, and email marketing owned the build. The email team was initially hesitant to give up control, but clear lanes made requests simpler for everyone.

Nine planned templates became six flexible ones: three layouts plus three lighter variations, backed by about 25 reusable sections. The accessibility, creative, email marketing, and web teams all signed off.

The system was documented and handed off so the team could run it without me. My two-month contract was extended through the end of the year.

My contract ended before the system’s impact could be measured, so these results describe what was delivered.

Tools

HubSpot drag-and-drop email editor; Figma (design handoff).

Skills

Email template systems; accessibility (WCAG); responsive email; process and ownership design; stakeholder alignment; QA.

Contribution credit: The client’s brand team created the original designs and imagery. My work covered the HubSpot implementation, saved sections, QA, and documentation. The illustration is a reconstruction, not an original client screenshot.