UX/UI design and climate change
Sustainable UX/UI design is an emerging field that aligns user experience with environmental goals to combat climate change. A recent study by Greek scholars on best practices for reducing CO2 emissions in web applications highlights actionable strategies to minimize environmental impact while maintaining excellent usability.
Key insights:
Minimalist Design: Streamlining pages by removing unnecessary elements reduces data load and energy use.
Energy-Efficient Colors: Dark modes and OLED-optimized color schemes cut power consumption.
Optimized Media: Compressed images and videos lower bandwidth demands without sacrificing quality.
Efficient Coding: Cleaner, simpler code improves performance and minimizes server load.
User Awareness: Educating users on how their digital behaviors affect the environment encourages sustainable practices.
An experiment comparing two versions of an e-commerce app—one sustainable, one not—showed the sustainable version cut CO2 emissions by nearly 40%. This study underscores the power of thoughtful design in advancing sustainability goals in the digital age.
For more, explore the original paper: "UI/UX Sustainable Design: Best Practices for Applications CO2 Emissions Reduction."
