As designers, we often talk about accessibility, but in practice, it's easy to skip the small details that actually make products more inclusive. One of those details is writing good alt text — short, objective descriptions of images that screen readers can read aloud for people who can't see them. I realized that I wasn't always consistent with this part. Sometimes I'd forget, other times I'd write something too vague ("screenshot of interface"), or worse, something too interpretive. Writing alt text shouldn't take long, yet doing it well every time requires focus, and that's exactly where I started struggling.
So, I decided to build a small AI helper — an app that generates an objective, one-sentence description for any image I upload. The goal wasn't to replace human judgment but to make accessibility work feel lighter and more natural, especially in the middle of design tasks.
Meet CaptionCraft AI
When it comes to building quick interface experiments with AI support, I usually switch between Firebase Studio, Emergent, and Base44. For this project, I went with Base44. It seemed like the right balance between flexibility and speed — a tool that lets me focus on logic and flow instead of setup. I wasn't trying to build a complex product, just a small, functional space where I could upload an image and get a clean, objective description back.
This was my initial prompt:
A simple interface for writing a caption for an uploaded image.
User is able to upload the image, then AI will analyze it and write a short caption for the image.
In just two minutes, the app was up and running. That's the kind of speed AI helpers can bring — turning what used to be a small but tedious task into something instant and effortless. It wasn't about building a polished product or a full-featured tool; it was about creating a working prototype fast, testing the idea, and seeing the concept in action almost immediately:
The results were striking! I could upload an image, and right below it appeared a clear, objective alt text. It felt almost magical. The descriptions were mostly on point, though some were a little long, so I made small refinements to tighten them up. That was the only tweak I had to introduce — the core functionality worked perfectly straight out of the box. Seeing it in action really highlighted how much time and mental effort AI can save:
This was a small, focused project with a clear purpose: creating a tool that improves accessibility while also smoothing out my own workflow. It wasn't about building something complex or flashy, just a practical helper that actually gets the job done.
Tools like Base44 these days make it possible to whip up small, useful apps in no time. For me, this means less friction when writing and documenting my work. But it's not just about me — anyone reading my case studies can benefit from the same approach. A little AI support can make accessibility easier for everyone, and sometimes that's all it takes to make a meaningful difference.
If you also use Base44, you can even try it: CaptionCraft AI.