Sustainability is a global movement to counteract the climate crisis, arguably the most important issue of our time. This talk covers practical points to help UX designers design for sustainability, and help shape the future.

1. Sustainable design
Bavo Lodewyckx

2. There’s one issue that will
define the contours of this
century more dramatically
than any other, and that is
the urgent threat of a
changing climate
- Barack Obama -

3. Today's youths are more politically & ecologically
aware than ever before!

4. There is an audience
Shop from
companies that
share their values
Frustrated by short
term thinking
They are willing to
make an effort
Willing to pay
extra, but shouldn’t
have to

5. Lawmakers are responding

6. What can we do ourselves?
TAKE THE
TRAIN
TURN OFF
THE LIGHTS
SORT YOUR
TRASH
RECYCLE
TAKE THE
BIKE
SAY NO
TO SPAM
BLACK
COFEE
UPCYCLE

7. Belgium is doing good
Staggering recycling rates
• 100% of cardboard is recycled
• 41,2% plastics recycled, other part is burnt
• 106,2% glass recycled

8. Paris accord
It is still not enough!
We are currently not on track to reach the
Paris accord goals

9. Eco-minded startups
Too good to go For good

10. Companies are setting goals
2014
Top 200 biggest companies in the world
2019
77%
94%

11. And they are ambitious
Zalando
H&M
Lidl
100% of packaging to be
sustainably sourced by
2020
#1 sustainable retailer by
2020Becoming climate positive across
the entire value chain by 2040

12. We need a shift in public opinion
That is where design comes inWe need to drive social change

13. Start by looking at yourself

14. “ We already do digital design as UXers,
no paper wasted on us right?”

15. The internet
• There are 4.1 billion Internet users in the world as of December 2018. This is
compared to 3.9 billion Internet users in mid 2018 and about 3.7 billion Internet
users in late 2017.
• Over 4 million blog posts are published on the Internet every day.
• There are 3.7 billion global mobile Internet users as at January 2018.
• 73,024GB of Internet traffic in 1 second

16. Mozilla
internet
report 2018
If it were a country, the web would be on
track to become the fourth largest CO2
emitter on Earth

17. Greenpeace
7% of global electricity use is in the IT
sector

18. The Guardian
Powering the internet burns enough fossil
fuels to emit 880 million tons of CO2 per
year—about the same as the entire
aviation industry.

19. Small changes, big impact
The changes we make have impact.
They might feel insignificant. But remember at what scale we are doing this.

20. CMA CGM
3.7 seconds per load
9 cranes
33 seconds per minute
48.000 seconds per day
= 13,32 hours
626 hours per day
47 terminals

21. Twitter
1 tweet = 0.02 g of CO2
350.000 tweets p/m
7000 g p/m
10,080,000 g per day
= 11tons of CO2 a day
= Flying to Paris 76 times
=Burning 3509 liter of Diesel

22. Google
I read somewhere that every Google
search accounts for a few grams of CO2
produced at the server farms as well.
I didn’t really feel like googling the
exact number anymore…

23. What can you do as a UXer?

24. Realise your impact!

25. Challenge your clients
Ask them about their sustainability goals. Plant the seed!
Make the most sustainable option the primary CTA
Make the least sustainable option the most expensive

26. Use green hosting
thegreenwebfoundation.org

27. Stay away from addicting patterns
- Endless scrolls
- Rewards based on constantly visiting or posting (ex. Snapchat Streaks)
- Content that's based on page loads to view
- …

28. Make websites smaller
The average web page has ballooned from a total size of 500kb in 2011 to
over 3MB today
Keep in mind every byte that get’s sent across the internet generates CO2

29. Check your website’s carbon footprint
websitecarbon.com

30. Get your users to the right page
IA is crucial in reducing the amount of data used on a website.
The faster you can get your users to the right page the less CO2
produced

31. Go mobile first
When you design from small screens up, you re-focus your design
process around what works with less real estate.
Prioritize the most important data and actions and then work your
way up from there.

32. Avoid using a carousel on websites
Carousels use a immense amount of data on a website
Study has shown that carousels are not effective at all
http://shouldiuseacarousel.com/

33. Don’t auto play videos
This one really needs no explanation

34. Reuse assets and animations
This reduces loading time of webpages

35. Compress your images to the max
http://thumbor.org/

36. Use basic fonts on websites
Arial
Helvetica
Roboto
Comic sans

37. Remove the print option
Seriously, start with this!

38. The challenge
Post it on our slack channel

39. Not because we can
Because we must