700+ thank-yous — every one of them readable by everyone.

Appreciation shouldn't have an accessibility barrier

The employee appreciation card initiative had a warm goal — let colleagues send each other digital kudos cards — and an inherited problem: the cards being delivered weren't accessible. A card that a screen reader can't parse turns a gesture of appreciation into a document someone can't read. Recognition, of all things, should reach everyone it's addressed to.

The project also required a platform migration, moving the collection form from Google Forms into Microsoft Forms — bringing it inside the institution's Microsoft 365 environment where it could connect to Power Automate for delivery and record-keeping instead of sitting in a disconnected tool.

Design requirements I set

1. Screen-reader-first cards. Every recipient receives a fully accessible HTML card — real, structured text rather than an image of text — so the appreciation reads aloud as naturally as it displays.
2. A receipt for the sender. Each submission triggers a confirmation email back to the sender for their records. Recognition is two-sided: the recipient gets the card, and the sender gets documentation that their appreciation was delivered — useful when kudos feed into review cycles and team recognition.
3. Delight without trade-offs. Themed card designs in institutional branding, each verified for color contrast — proof that accessible and joyful aren't competing requirements.

A thank-you card that a screen reader can't read isn't a thank-you for everyone.

How it works

1. A colleague fills out the Microsoft Form — recipient, recognition category, message, and card theme.
2. Power Automate picks up the submission instantly.
3. The flow builds the accessible HTML card and emails it to the recipient.
4. A confirmation email goes back to the sender, closing the loop.

The card builder

An interactive sample of the card experience — type a name and message, pick a theme, and watch it build:

Results

More than 700 participants sent cards during employee appreciation week, spending an average of 30 minutes composing each message. The metric I watched most closely, though, wasn't the total — it was the repeat senders. A meaningful number of people came back to send multiple cards to different colleagues. One card might mean the campaign email worked; coming back for a second and third means the experience itself was worth returning to. That's the difference between a tool that gets used and a tool that gets adopted.

What's next

The form was restricted to institutional email accounts, which kept it secure but excluded an important group: students without school email addresses who wanted to recognize staff and faculty. Opening a safe pathway for those senders is the next iteration — because the people an appreciation initiative most needs to hear from are often the ones the access rules quietly leave out. It's the same lesson as the accessibility work itself: check who the current design excludes, then design for them.