What happens when accessibility becomes a feature, not a fix? We sit down with Eugene Woo, CEO of Venngage, to explore how a design platform can bake inclusion into every step—from contrast-aware color pickers to exporting PDF/UA files that pass compliance without a remediation gauntlet. Eugene shares Venngage’s origin story, the early pressure from education and government users, and the decision to lead with built-in accessibility even when the market wasn’t asking loudly.
We dig into common misconceptions that keep teams on the sidelines: the belief that “accessible” means boring, or that compliance always adds time and cost. Eugene reframes accessibility as a creative constraint that improves legibility and clarity, especially when the tool handles structure and checks in real time. Then we tackle AI. Trained on a mostly inaccessible web, today’s models can draft fast but still hallucinate compliance. Eugene explains how Venngage pairs generative speed with deterministic rules for headings, layers, and exports, keeping a human in the loop where quality matters most.
The conversation widens to content strategy. Organic traffic that once flowed to blogs is shrinking as AI answer engines satisfy queries without a click. Eugene offers candid numbers and hard-earned perspective on what’s still working: unique data, useful tools, and product-led content that solves real problems. Looking ahead, he predicts pro tools will stay hands-on and AI-assisted, while non-designer platforms shift to prompt-first workflows—“apply my brand,” “swap this image,” “ensure contrast passes,” “export PDF/UA”—handled by an assistant that understands both design and accessibility.
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