Design Systems Week 2026
NL Design System is organising the Design Systems Week for the fifth time. It will feature a number of short talks about the how and why of design systems. All online. From October 26 to October 29, we will cover subjects like managing design systems, integrating accessibility, user research and code.
The timetable is not yet final. The sessions will be further developed and added in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on this page for updates.
Tracking conformance data within the code-base
Dr Steph Driver - Open Library of Humanities
Accessibility conformance is often documented in separate reports that quickly become outdated. But what if accessibility data lived alongside your code instead?
In this session, you’ll discover how the open-source publishing platform Janeway rethought its accessibility process by integrating conformance data directly into its code-base. Every accessibility finding is linked to the commit it was audited against cross referenced with the work needed to improve it. This underpins a continuous workflow of targeted accessibility audits and improvements instead of relying on audits every few years.
Steph shares the motivation behind this approach, how it was implemented, and the lessons learned along the way. Whether you’re a developer, accessibility specialist, or simply curious about improving accessibility workflows, this session offers practical insights into a more sustainable way of managing conformance data.
The implementation is open source, making it easy to dive into the technical details after the session.
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Design Systems as a Lever for Accessibility Culture
Caroline Dahl - IKEA & Pierre Orsander - IKEA & Robin Whittleton - IKEA
Accessibility has been a core focus of Skapa, the digital design system at IKEA, since it was established in 2019.
In this session, we’ll share how we embedded accessibility into the way our design system is built and maintained, and how that foundation helped foster a broader accessibility culture across the organisation, influencing both product and brand experiences.
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Switching design systems without compromising accessibility
Marion Couesnon - Digitalservice GmbH des Bundes
What happens when you replace your own design system with a new, shared standard? How do you make sure accessibility doesn't take a step backwards?
In this session, Marion Couesnon from the Access to Justice team shares their experience of migrating from their in-house design system to the KERN Design System, which they see as the future standard for German public services.
You'll learn how the team approached the migration from an accessibility perspective, the checks and decisions they made along the way, and the unexpected challenges they still encountered. Because even when a design system is built with accessibility in mind, adopting it doesn't automatically guarantee an accessible result.
A practical session packed with lessons learned, pitfalls to avoid, and tips for teams planning a similar transition.
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The renaissance of design tooling
Javier Cuello - Fuller
What if you could build exactly the design tools your team needs, instead of adapting your workflow to the tools available?
Creating custom design tooling has become easier than ever. Instead of relying solely on generic plugins and frameworks, teams can now build small, purpose-made tools that address the specific needs of their projects and design systems.
In this session, Javier Cuello shares practical examples of how he has been creating and using custom mini plugins and design tools to solve problems that previously seemed difficult to tackle. He’ll show what’s possible, where these tools can add value, and how they can improve everyday design workflows.
A practical and inspiring session for designers who want to rethink their tooling, with plenty of useful insights for developers too.
Designsystemet - What if we build less?
Eirik Backer - Norwegian Digitalisation Agency
Design systems often solve many of the same problems, over and over again. What if we could share the universal parts? What if sharing could not hinder, but enable uniqueness and identity. This talk covers the Norwegian project "Designsystemet" and its approach to building a framework agnostic, design agnostic, open-source toolkit to enable your design system.
We also take a deep dive into how prioritising native HTML, CSS and browser behaviour makes components more predictable, flexible and composable, and challenge what parts of a design system you actually need to own and maintain yourself.