Essentials for designing sustainable digital experiences

How can UX Designers prioritize people and the planet in their work?

Addressing environmental issues is not a new topic. But, after the global protests of 2019, it seems to have finally reached a relevant dimension, given the seriousness of the problem. This situation is probably due to the greater visibility of the impact of climate change and easier access to information, which contributes to the public being better informed about the issue.

When we talk about physical products, it is relatively easy to understand the impacts in terms of raw materials and the conditions in which the products are produced.

But, and when we talk about websites or applications, what impact does the virtual world have on the planet?

This question is making headlines more than ever, for example, when the carbon footprint of popular streaming services or the power consumption of cryptocurrencies are questioned. And when we look at the internet as a whole, the situation becomes scary: if the internet were a country, it would be the seventh largest polluter in the world and is expected to grow significantly by 2030!

As UX designers, we contribute to building the digital world. Therefore, it is our responsibility to understand how we can put people and the planet first in our work.

In part, the UX design role implements inherently sustainable practices. Creating readable and accessible content that is organized in a clear visual hierarchy makes it easier for users to find the content they need; and usable navigation systems reduce the number of pages that need to load to get from point A to point B, which uses fewer resources.

But beyond the practices every designer learns in their UX education and applies to their work, is there more they can do? The answer is yes:

Set a page weight budget

A page weight budget is a plan of how much a web page may weigh in kilobytes or megabytes. It defines a size limit on the files that are transferred when the web page loads.

Keeping load time as low as possible should always be a goal for any digital product. It has a huge…