AI-native workflows

Accessibility at scale

I reframed an underused AI alt-text feature by moving generation upstream, where descriptions could be created once and reused across content workflows.

Research showed alt text generation belonged with the image asset, not the content item. The resulting cross-product direction later shipped as Amplience’s Automatic Alt Text capability.

Organisation: Amplience · 2023-24
Role: Principal Product Designer
Contribution: Product R&D · Workflow research · Cross-product interaction design
Scope: AI-assisted accessibility · DAM and CMS · Enterprise content workflows

Early opportunity

Fail fast and learn

Alt text was an obvious early AI use case: easy to understand, easy to demonstrate and a credible way to start customer conversations. Interest was high, but repeat use remained low. That gave the Product Owner and me a better question: where did generation belong in the workflow?

Early AI alt-text generator embedded in the Dynamic Content authoring workflow. — The 1st implementationAn AI extension generated alt text when an author added an image to CMS content, using constraints already defined by the content model.

Research & discovery

The feature was in the wrong place

Research showed alt text wasn’t a content-authoring task. Campaign images were commissioned, refined and uploaded to the DAM in batches, long before CMS authoring began. Generating descriptions later in the CMS fragmented an asset-level task and multiplied the work across large image volumes and locales.

Content supply chain diagram expanding content creation into the asset workflow, highlighting asset creation and upload to the DAM. — Follow the work upstreamCampaign imagery entered the workflow through the DAM, where asset metadata could be generated once before content production began.

Product response

Generate once, reuse downstream

We moved generation upstream to the DAM. When assets were ingested, AI could create and attach alt text once, making it available with the asset in the CMS. Authors could inspect or amend it without changing the source metadata.

Cross-product alt-text workflow showing localised metadata in Content Hub and contextual selection and editing in Dynamic Content. — Automate repeated work, retain human judgementThe Product Owner and I redesigned the flow so alt text and translations were generated and stored with the asset in the DAM. In the CMS, authors could switch locale or override the inherited text for a specific use.