Design for the future
#64 - May.2023
Fixing Climate Change will require collaboration from every one of us. It is not only about finding more efficient ways to produce, grow things, or get around. How we design and lead digital products can also have an impact.
And a very important one.
The cloud and the scaling capabilities of today's technology sometimes give us a false sense of limitless resources when designing for digital experiences. Still, electronic devices and data centers make up roughly 50% of the consumption of electricity in the technology sector while we tend to ignore how product decisions can increase or reduce this consumption.
The new generation of sustainable digital products will continue to be desirable, feasible, and viable, but should also consider our planet's needs without lowering the quality bar of the experiences it offers.
As regulations and social pressure scale, sustainable design is now a competitive lever. Buying decisions from customers are starting to shift as premiums for 'green' products are more competitive. Making the right thing is becoming a good business.
Incorporating this mental model means embedding into our design and software decisions core principles for sustainability. These principles translate primarily into how we store, load, offer, and transfer data in digital applications. Some good starting points:
- Optimizing pre-loading content
- Data compression
- Reduce data transfer; opt for local storage when possible
- Use streaming wisely
- Evaluate processing demand shifting
- Be aware of the energy sources of your infrastructure
Learn more and take action. Our decisions can have a profound effect on our future.
