Torus: Accessibility Design System
Vanessa Chang
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Posted Jan 30, 2026
Architecting a "Compliance by Default" system for CMU’s Torus platform. Focused on WCAG standards, scalability, and systematic UI components.
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Timeline
Sep 23, 2025 - Dec 5, 2025
Clients
Open Learning Initiative
Transforming accessibility debt into a scalable foundation
I established a WCAG-compliant design system for OLI's Torus platform, aligning design intent with engineering execution through systematic documentation.
The Challenge
The platform faced fragmentation and urgent ADA compliance risks. I was brought in to build the atomic foundation for the Torus design system, ensuring all future features are accessible by default.
Initial audit identifying systemic accessibility failures, incoherent variants, and ARIA role conflicts across the platform
The Solution: Logic-Driven Design
I moved beyond visual fixes to create a systemic framework for the team:
Systemic Audit: Identified structural gaps in keyboard patterns and ARIA roles by benchmarking industry standards.
Semantic Standards: Defined functional roles and navigation logic to ensure a predictable user experience.
Integrated Documentation: Embedded interaction rules and accessibility specs directly into Figma to streamline developer handoff.
Detailed component specifications with embedded accessibility rules to streamline developer handoff and reduce communication debt
The Result
Unified Source of Truth: Established a self-documenting library that serves as the foundation for the Torus ecosystem.
Efficiency in Handoff: Reduced communication overhead by embedding logic into components, fostering better alignment between design and engineering.
Systemic Scalability: Delivered full documentation for 11 core components, ensuring long-term WCAG 2.1 AA compliance for future growth.
A self-documenting atomic library categorized by functional roles, serving as the single source of truth for the Torus ecosystem
For a deep dive into my research and systemic logic: View the full case study on my portfolio
Design Systems · Accessibility (A11y) · Product Design · Figma · WCAG 2.1