Case Study: WP Engine’s Flywheel kickstarts accessibility with Stark

How WP Engine’s Flywheel hosted a hackathon to kickstart its accessibility journey with Stark

WP Engine's Flywheel team, responsible for a popular WordPress hosting platform, faced a significant challenge when they discovered their design system was built on an inaccessible color palette. This created a conflict between their core values and their ability to serve all users. Senior Product Designer Mikey Chaplin identified the issue and the team decided to address it at a systemic level rather than applying one-off fixes, partnering with accessibility vendor Stark to find a solution.

The solution involved a three-day hackathon where the Flywheel team used Stark’s suite of tools, including the Stark for Figma plugin and Chrome extension, to audit their website and app. This cross-functional effort resulted in a new, accessible design system that preserved their brand identity. The initiative fostered company-wide buy-in, improved inter-departmental collaboration, and embedded accessibility as a core priority. The team credited Stark for enabling the rapid audit and providing clear, jargon-free resources that made the process efficient and effective.

WP Engine

Kelsey Faherty

UX Research Intern