As co-leaders of an accessibility driven design initiative, Michelle and I began this project with a comprehensive site audit. Our focus was to ensure that both Toyota and Lexus Newsroom adhered to WCAG guidelines and achieved both AA and AAA compliance.

Our audit addressed areas of improvement in following areas:

• Font Sizing and Styling
• Color Contrast
• Navigation
• Alt Text
• Redundant Links
• Audio and Visual Descriptions
• Thumb Reachability (Mobile/Tablet)

Our primary goals were to enhance readability on both websites, ensure seamless user experience for those relying on screen readers, enable animation control, and reduce strain on mobile and tablet devices.

Based on site audit findings, we implemented several critical improvements:

• Globally increased font size to a minimum of 14px.
• Introduced dark overlays for text on light images and dark borders for images with insufficient background contrast.
• Ensured all links included underlines and removed redundant links.
• Enabled the ability to pause/play animations.
• Relocated social media icons to the bottom of the screen on mobile platforms.

As a co-leader, I had the privilege of presenting our work directly to the Toyota and Lexus teams, the creative teams at SJR, and internal stakeholders. I eagerly anticipate the opportunity to lead similar accessibility-focused projects in the future.