How Sustainability Shapes Digital Product Design and Dev: Interview with Leyla Acaroglu
When developing a new digital product or consulting with teams, startups, or global companies about an existing digital product, I always consider how to make the product more sustainable for its creators, users, and any other products or teams it may impact, regardless of the stage of the development process I’m involved in.
In fact, we have created a page on the blurple website dedicated to the sustainable user experience approach, where we included insights from Don Norman and made commitments to our customers and everyone interested in our work. We believe that sustainable design can change the future, but we need to take action today.
When I think of sustainable design, the first name that comes to mind is Leyla Acaroglu. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to interview her about the differences that adopting a sustainable approach can make when developing a digital product! I am grateful for her time and for comprehensively answering my questions…
If you want to learn more about Leyla Acaroglu, you can visit her website “here” She developed the Disruptive Design Method, which forms the backbone of her unique approach to design-led societal change. She was named UNEP Champion of the Earth through the United Nations Environment Program in 2016, and she is also a TED speaker and author. If you haven’t explored her work yet, you definitely should.
Let’s move on to the interview with Leyla Acaroglu ⬇
What difference does “offering a sustainable approach” make when developing a digital product, designing user experience or focusing entirely on product experience (PX), in the initial phase of a project or in a product that continues its life cycle?
1-) For startup founders, product managers or experienced designers, how can we adopt a more sustainable approach when creating a digital product?
Digital products have impacts just like physical products do, albeit in different forms. Where a physical product draws on nature’s resources for the materials and uses energy and other inputs in the manufacturing phase, a digital product predominantly uses energy by way of servers (which also have to be made from physical materials extracted from nature). Therefore the impacts of digital products can be minimized through design and coding choices. For designers working with physical products, it’s important to understand where social and environmental impacts are occurring and then make design decisions that reduce or eliminate these.
There are a few tools that designers can use to assess impact areas, one of the best is called life cycle thinking which is about exploring the whole of life impacts from the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, use, packaging & transportation and then end of life. This process is based on ISO certified Life Cycle Assessment, but enables a more streamlined and quick assessment. There are now many online tools that support in doing assessments, including website and digital asset impacts.
2-) When we talk about sustainability, we always focus on physical products, however, one of the industries that affects our world the most is the “digital industry”, that is, the photos, files and company uses that we upload to the cloud every day. Where are we going and what can we do about this?
There is definitely an increased impact associated with digital products, in fact data centers contribute the same carbon impact as the airline industry (ref). Especially given the rise of the Internet of things and the increased automatic use of cloud-based apps etc. Everything stored on the cloud has a physical footprint by way of energy used to hold that data, and so there are practices such as digital hygiene and storing backups offline that can help to reduce these impacts. In addition, there is a lot of water used to cool the servers down and a significant impact is also caused from the wasted electronic products used to fule the digital revolution (ref).
There is a rise in green coding (ref) which enables lightweighting of websites and apps through intentional coding choices. Green servers are also on the rise with many companies offering carbon-neutral options. I’ve also seen government agencies and companies developing digital storage policies that require assessment and impact reduction strategies.
3-) Everyone says that sending an e-mail or keeping an email in the inbox harms the environment, is this really possible?
Emails are also data and thus they require energy and server use to send and store. There are different assumptions based on whether you have graphics or just text-based elements. A simple thing to do would be to remove any graphic-based signatures, unsubscribe to marketing emails and do regular clean-ups of your inbox to delete unneeded emails.
“The data center industry, which refers to a physical facility designed to store and manage information and communications technology systems, is responsible for 2–3% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The volume of data across the world doubles in size every two years.” — ref
4-) One of the goals set by many companies is to be carbon neutral in 2030. Considering that 90% of the companies in the world are carbon neutral, will a more sustainable world really await us?
Under the current trajectory, I’m not sure we will get to such a high number of companies being carbon neutral by 2030, especially as many of them will opt for the easy solution of offsetting rather than decarbonization policies, which are more work to do. The reality is most companies currently have no idea what their impacts are and for those that do, who are leading the way, they are facing the reality of a complex system of change. We need at-scale solutions which are coming online in some places but the rate of adaptation is not fast nor progressive enough to meet the 2030 targets. This is one of the reasons I developed Swivel Skills, a corporate training platform that is intended for all staff to be trained in how to respond to the climate crises and adapt to a circular economy.
5-) What kind of responsibilities do design agencies, software companies and professionals producing digital products have to create a more sustainable world?
I believe design is one of the critical areas of intervention when it comes to addressing the global challenges of social and environmental impacts. Why? Because design deals with materials and demands supply chains to be developed. Designers also work to advance consumption and can therefore work to create better patterns such as through circular economy solutions. There are many ways designers can educate themselves and take action to reduce the impact of their decisions.
6-) Many companies have started to measure themselves by purchasing carbon footprint management software and have started to purchase carbon offsets for the carbon they create. Is this really one of the solutions?
Yes, all companies should know what their impacts are and work to reduce them. Carbon impact software helps to manage data and provide real-time feedback. We have a saying in sustainability that if you can’t measure it you can’t claim it. So data is really important.
7-) Where should the issue of sustainability be positioned in project management for a newly developed digital product (for example, a mobile application) project?
I think that the designers and product developers could quite easily develop the skills and capacity to know how to make design decisions that have beneficial sustainability outcomes. But it does take some time to test and explore the issues in relation to your specific area. So perhaps hire an expert to train your team or do an initial assessment to gain a baseline understanding. Or bring on someone who knows how to do green coding or sustainability in digital design. There are many agencies that specialize in this now. The key is to get started, with all the changes that are happening now, the demand for sustainability in all sectors is very high and so designers can only benefit from increasing their capacity and skills in this area.
8-) Do you think that startups are currently conscious about sustainability (especially in the European and American regions)? Are there any teams you can point to as examples in this regard?
I think all European companies have to be aware of sustainability, climate action and the circular economy given the new European Laws. But there are still many who are perhaps not engaged as much as they could be to ensure they are setting up the processes and systems needed to establish good practices right from the start.
9-) Is there anything additional you would like to say to the product people, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts who read this blog?
Sustainability, climate action and the circular economy all offer incredible opportunities for business transformation and leadership. Designers play a critical role in the change needed to physical and digital products. There is a learning curve getting to the point where you can apply the right decisions to better outcomes but it’s now a vital skill needed and certainly will give you an advantage with clients.
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How Sustainability Shapes Digital Product Design and Dev: Interview with Leyla Acaroglu was originally published in product.blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.