Fable

🚀 We’ve secured $25M in Series B funding with Five Elms Capital, reinforcing our leadership in inclusive research.   This funding is not just a win for us; it reflects a collective effort from our amazing partners, customers, the entire Fable community, and our dedicated team. Together, we’re championing a future where inclusivity is at the forefront of innovation.  Thank you for being part of this journey with us!    Check out the full announcement: https://lnkd.in/gFrvAN7a

Principal Product Designer at Slack Andrew Gosine has been instrumental in working with Fable to shift accessibility left in Slack’s development process. “The feedback loop we’ve built through Fable has been crucial,” Andrew says. “We can consider accessibility much earlier in the design process, enabling us to pull accessibility further left. As we’re creating new features, we’re testing with assistive technology users and iterating based on their feedback.” Incorporating user feedback from the outset leads to a smoother design process and faster iterations. Rather than viewing feedback as a challenge, it should be seen as an essential part of growth and improvement. Read the full customer spotlight: https://lnkd.in/gsfNv3FB

We're thrilled to sponsor the 12th M-Enabling Summit in DC next week! We will join some of the biggest brands in exploring how rapid technological advancements can empower persons with disabilities and older adults to access digital content and services in innovative ways. Will you be there? Stop by our booth or join us in one of our featured session: -Tuesday at 2:30pm: our CEO Alwar Pillai joins a panel on Inclusive Design for Consumer Products with industry leaders from Whirlpool Corporation, Glidance Inc, and Amazon. -Tuesday at 4:40pm: our Head of Accessibility Innovation Kate Kalcevich interviews Amazon's JoAnna Hansen on AI for people with disabilities. -Wednesday at 2:15pm: our Director of Community Programs Jillian Fortin Burtnett chats with Sharron Rush of Knowbility on accessibility career transformation. Check out the full agenda: https://lnkd.in/gnCXkY4i Hope to see you there!

Envision and find your place in a DesignOps world. DesignOps Summit 2024 by Rosenfeld Media kicks off today! We’re pleased to host two, free to attend sponsor sessions during this year’s programming: Today at 12:35pm ET – Integrating Accessibility in DesignOps Join Head of Accessibility Innovation at Fable Kate Kalcevich to learn how to unlock accessibility across your DesignOps workflow. She'll cover strategies for integrating user feedback from people with disabilities, streamlining prototype reviews, and adding accessibility annotations efficiently. Discover how to make your design operations more inclusive without sacrificing speed or quality. Tomorrow, September 24th at 12:30pm ET – Meaningful inclusion: practicing accessibility research with confidence Practicing meaningful inclusion in your research and design work requires learning from a wide range of users, including people with disabilities. Still, applying your existing UX principles and methodologies towards accessibility research can feel daunting for practitioners who rarely get to work with assistive technology users and people with disabilities. Join Kavana Ramesh, a UX Researcher at Fable with hundreds of hours of accessibility research, as she shares a reflective framework for how to build confidence in your team. Sign up for the conference’s free sponsor sessions (ZoomEvents): https://lnkd.in/gGy4ZKNs

We're excited to sponsor Friday's pre-conference panel discussion by Rosenfeld Media! Learn from inclusive design leaders from Hilton, Microsoft, and Fable on how to move your organization beyond considering accessibility operations as a "nice to have". Join us this Thursday at 11am ET to tune in to the discussion moderated by Saara Kamppari-Miller, featuring: Nicole Bergstrom, CPACC, Senior Director of Accessibility at Hilton Anna Cook, M.S., Senior Designer at Microsoft Kate Kalcevich, Head of Accessibility Innovation at Fable Free registration via Zoom Events: https://lnkd.in/eur2KdeW

We’re excited to introduce a new integration with Figma: Fable Insight Annotations! Bring accessibility research seamlessly into your workflow and back up inclusive design decisions. This widget allows you to: -Drive better decision making by embedding user feedback into FigJam collaboration sessions -Leverage asynchronous communication with video clips from Fable Engage -Strengthen team understanding of accessibility challenges, celebrate team achievements, and foster a culture of inclusive product development Shift left by bringing insights from people with disabilities into Figma and FigJam. Add the widget: https://lnkd.in/gTgWeKWZ

Fable recently surveyed our community of assistive technology users to learn about their experiences with online and mobile banking, insurance, investments, financial management, tax preparation, and payment services. While the finance industry may appear to be more accessible than others, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Only 35% of survey respondents said they were “satisfied” with the accessibility of their financial services’ websites and apps, and just 13% were “very satisfied.” This means 52% of participants were either dissatisfied or indifferent about the services they use. So, what changes could make financial products more accessible for people with disabilities? Check out our latest Insights article to learn more. Link to article: https://lnkd.in/guEtrXks

Travel can be more difficult for people with disabilities – but it shouldn’t be. When it comes to accessibility and travel, there’s a lot of news coverage surrounding the challenges that people with disabilities are met with while the journey is in progress. There can be a lot of added stress involved, and based on our survey of Fable’s tester community, we know that 80 percent of respondents feel travel anxiety in the lead up to a trip. Ensuring that travel-focused websites are inclusive and accessible is one way to alleviate some of that stress. Check out this round-up of our articles that focus on accessibility and travel: 1) How Booking.com sparks cross-team collaboration through accessible and inclusive research practices - https://lnkd.in/giSpGw6M 2) Insights: accessibility challenges in travel - https://lnkd.in/ghU_7Ruh 3) How Porter used Fable to advance accessibility - https://lnkd.in/grjz7tNh

What makes a design system accessible? Measuring the accessibility of a design system is different than measuring product accessibility. A design system isn’t something the public directly uses. Instead, the users of a design system are the product teams within an organization and how you vet it will be different. So, what makes a design system truly accessible? Its ability to help diverse product teams build accessible digital products. In our latest article, we share three levels of accessibility testing for design systems, tips for success, and more: https://lnkd.in/gCY_R7XM

Thank you to Lori Samuels for sharing why it is so important to include people with disabilities when working on digital accessibility, and how NBCUniversal partners with Fable. Link to article: https://lnkd.in/dm-sfMCE