Frequently Asked Questions
These common questions about sustainable design and their short answers are taken from Nathan Shedroff’s book Design is the Problem: The Future of Design Must be Sustainable. You can find longer answers to each in your copy of the book, either printed or digital version.
- What is sustainability?
Sustainability is an approach to design and development that focuses on environmental, social, and financial factors that are often never addressed. Sustainable solutions strive to improve the many systems that support our lives, including efficiently using capital and markets, effectively using natural resources, and reducing waste and toxins in the environment while not harming people in societies across the Earth. Sustainability focuses on efficient and effective solutions that are better for society, the environment, and companies. Sustainable organizations are often more successful when they pay attention to the details of waste and impacts, allowing them to function more cleanly, increase profit margins, and differentiate themselves from other organizations.
For more information, see page xxi. - Why does being sustainable cost more – or does it?
Sustainable solutions don’t always cost more than unsustainable ones. Many solutions are focused on energy and material efficiency, and these actually cost less up-front. Because our economic system rarely includes all of the social and environmental costs and impacts of products and services of the items we buy, the producers of sustainable solutions try to compensate for these costs. Doing this can cost more up-front, but often costs less over time since these solutions may prevent problems later.
For more information, see page 129 and 139. - Is climate change proven?
There is overwhelming evidence of climate change, leaving no doubt that the climate isn’t what it used to be. What’s at issue is whether this change is due to human activity or cyclic conditions in the environment. While there is no unequivocal proof that all of the changes are due to human activity, there is massive overlap between the evidence of climate change and the details of human activity. The majority of reputable scientists believes that an overwhelming amount of climate change is due to human activity, despite the lack of conclusive proof.
For more information, see www.climatechange.net - What’s a carbon footprint?
One of the most important aspects of climate change seems to be the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) accumulating in the upper atmosphere. Scientific models explain why this may have an impact on climate change and how serious this is to the environment and our way of life on Earth. One of the most prominent strategies for reversing these effects is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we send into the environment. A carbon footprint is a way of estimating the amount of carbon dioxide our activities generate, and by understanding this, we can find ways to lower these emissions. It represents the total amount of carbon dioxide our activities generate—from heating our homes to driving cars to eating and drinking to working and living.Carbon footprints are difficult to calculate exactly because there are so many variables. However, most carbon footprint calculators do a great job of estimating our personal or corporate carbon emissions by using averages. A great place to start estimating your carbon footprint is the calculator at Al Gore’s Web site: www.climatecrisis.net. - Are hybrids really better than other cars?
Hybrid cars are certainly not a long-term answer. Hybrids are better than hydrogen cars or really big cars (like SUVs), and buying a hybrid car sends a powerful message to the automobile industry, as well as other companies and government agencies. However, in the long run, smaller gasoline cars are better for the environment overall, and electric cars are probably the best.
For more information, see page 73. - Is nuclear power a more sustainable energy option?
Proponents of nuclear energy point to the reduced carbon dioxide emissions of generating electricity via nuclear power over traditional methods. But there are many other issues that need to be taken into account, including the amount of CO2 generated in the mining, transportation, and refining of uranium, construction of the plants themselves, dealing with the waste over thousands of years, and the abysmal safety record of the nuclear industry with regard to workers, miners, and the environment. These additional costs make nuclear power a much weaker investment than spending less money on efficiency technologies and alternative energies, such as solar, wind, wave, hydro, and other renewable sources.
For more information, see page 28. - What can I do to become more sustainable?
Because sustainability encompasses so many issues across the social, environmental, financial, and political spectra, there are many things each of us can do to quickly build a more efficient, effective, and sustainable world. We can start by learning about the issues and then evaluating our impacts with carbon footprint calculators (which is quick and easy to do). Next, we can simply make better choices, starting small, by changing our behaviors to be more sustainable. One of the most important things we can do is simply to be more efficient, using fewer materials and energy in our activities. This might mean wasting less food, not driving when it isn’t necessary, turning lights and electronic equipment off when they’re not being used, insulating our homes to be more efficient, and so on. When we purchase new things, we can look for more efficient versions or ones with higher ratings. Buying locally-produced items is generally more sustainable and helps build resilient local communities. Most of these changes don’t even impact our quality of life much, and most sustainable solutions help us do more with less rather than just give us less overall.
For more information, see www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction and www.wecansolveit.org/content/action. - As a designer, what can I do to make the world more sustainable?
First, designers can understand the breadth of sustainability and the strategies for developing more sustainable solutions. This is pretty easy (and is covered in this book). Next, designers can start using these strategies in their work, even if only a few at a time. We need to become advocates of sustainability issues for our own organizations and our clients, partners, and other stakeholders. We can address sustainability issues in our projects whether our clients and organizations appreciate them or not, making more sustainable solutions even when those around us don’t do so.Over time, designers can address more issues and integrate more strategies into their work naturally. This is easiest when all team members are aware of the issues and strategies and when sustainability becomes part of the process. Ultimately, sustainability is most powerful when it becomes part of an organization’s values and mission, but we don’t need to wait for this to begin in order to have an impact now.
For more information, see page 266.
Future Practice Interview: Jim Kalbach
As part of our Future Practice webinar series, we’re interviewing presenters to give you a preview of what they’ll cover. Next up is Jim Kalbach on The Principles of Web Navigation: Advanced Design Techniques. A librarian by background, Jim is perhaps best known for his O’Reilly book, Designing Web Navigation.
Podcast: The Humanity of Technology—Furthering the Greater Good with Jamika Burge
Though trained as a computer scientist, Jamika Burge admits she does not have the heart of a programmer; rather, she’s interested in surfacing and connecting with the humanity of the technology we create. Jamika has taken that approach in her past work, including a stint at DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), where she studied the impact of games on learning. Jamika now leads AI Design Insights at CapitalOne, and is also one of the Advancing Research 2021 Conference curators. Here she shares the story of her career path, and the work she is doing with blackcomputeHER.org (pronounced ‘black computer’), an organization she co-founded that is dedicated to supporting computation and design workforce development for black women and girls.
Jamika Recommends:
Gendershades.org, a project by Joy Buolamwini, Lead Author and Timnit Gebru, PhD, Co-Author
Keep up with Jamika:
JamikaBurge.com
Twitter
Instagram
LinkedIn
Dr. Jamika D. Burge leads AI Design Insights at Capital One. Her team uncovers learning & research insights across multiple platform experiences, including conversational AI, which supports Eno, Capital One’s customer-facing intelligent assistant. She’s an authority on intersectionality of Black women in computing and co-founder of blackcomputeHER.org (pronounced ‘black computer’), an organization dedicated to supporting computation & design workforce development for black women and girls.
Prior to joining Capital One, she served as a research and tech consultant to DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, in the Information Innovation Office. While there, she provided technical and management consult for innovative DARPA programs which were funded at over $70M. Jamika is also Founder and Principal of Design & Technology Concepts, LLC, a tech consultancy that focuses on computer science education, tech research, and intersectional design. She has consulted for Google, the National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT), and the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U). Jamika holds a PhD in CS from VA Tech.
New Book Out Today: Designing Agentive Technology
The timing for our newest book Designing Agentive Technology couldn’t be better. AI has moved from being the “next big thing” to being the thing for designers to grapple with. I’ve even done some research that demonstrates how important AI and machine learning are to UX people.
If you’re venturing into the world of AI this year (or just thinking about it), there are two reasons you should consider picking up a copy:
- It’s practical. When it comes to AI, there simply aren’t a lot of books—yet—that provide such practical guidance to designers. Kudos to Chris for making designing agents clear and concrete.
- It’s necessary. Technology always races ahead, forcing us slow-moving humans to catch up with its impacts. Those impacts can be troubling and even destructive. We need to work harder to humanize the technologies we create, and no single group will be more important to those efforts than designers. See this book as preparation for rehumanizing AI.
New Book: The Right Way To Select Technology
I quit my career as a IA consultant because I got tired. It wore me out to hear clients gripe about their technology. How, say, SharePoint made it impossible for them to improve the customer experience. I felt bad for them. And even worse for their customers. Because once company picks its software, good bloody luck changing it.
That’s why I’m so happy to get our newest book—The Right Way To Select Technology—out into the world. Organizations must stop falling for marketing pitches and buying the wrong technology. And stop wasting time and money. And I can’t think of better authors to tackle this than Tony Byrne and Jarrod Gingras. Their firm, Real Story Group, has been evaluating software for 16 years. They’re renowned for being technology-agnostic and fiercely independent.
If you’re helping to choose technology for your organization, Tony and Jarrod’s book will help you make good choices. You’ll also negotiate better deals and make your users happy. It’s short, witty, and available today here at Rosenfeld Media or via Amazon. I hope you enjoy it!
32 UX tips + sponsors’ freebies = :-)
Not only do we have 32 Awesomely Practical UX Tips to share with you this April 24, but we have 5 Awesomely Supportive Sponsors: MailChimp, UserTesting.com, UIE, O’Reilly, and Balsamiq.
- UserTesting.com: They provide an incredible user testing service that generates user research—from real people—IN ONE HOUR. And analysis too. Even better—they’re providing a free test to first twenty people who register for our event.
- User Interface Engineering: UIE recently launched their All You Can Learn library , which features recorded virtual seminars from the industry’s best instructors. When you register for our event, you’ll get two months’ free access to 119 UIE virtual seminar recordings.
- O’Reilly: Our long-time partners and source of inspiration, O’Reilly is providing each registrant with a free e-book.
- MailChimp: UX in action: a fantastic newsletter management platform that provides an exemplary user experience, and backed by one of the best user experience teams in the biz. In fact, that team puts out its own newsletter, which is required reading for UXers.
- Balsamiq: There really is a better way to wireframe: Balsamiq Mockups. It reproduces the experience of sketching on a whiteboard, but using a computer.
Those are some great freebies to go along with the incredible value of our 32 Awesomely Practical UX Tips event with Brenda Laurel, Steve Portigal, Kim Goodwin, Leah Buley, Christina Wodtke, and Dave Gray. You can attend it live on April 24, then enjoy the recordings at your leisure. We hope you’ll join us!
Register by Friday and get a FREE UserTesting.com study worth US$499
When you register early for our March 5-7 Mountain View workshops (by this Friday, February 10th), our partner UserTesting.com will perform a free mini-usability study of your website.
Mini-usability study details:
- Watch users search Google for what you offer
- Watch users perform common tasks—such as placing an order—on your website
- Watch users naturally search the Internet to research your company’s credibility
What UserTesting.com will provide you:
- They’ll set up and run a 3-user test of your site.
- They’ll give you the complete videos of these three sessions.
- They’ll annotate the videos, make clips of the highlights, and write a summary of the key findings.
- And it’s free
Yep, a US$499 value free simply for registering (please do so by February 10th). After you register, we’ll ask for the URL you want tested. Then UserTesting.com will get to work.
So, an incredible deal just got better—three best-selling UX authors (Krug, Wroblewski, and Rosenfeld), all teaching highly practical workshops geared toward UX practitioners in an intimate setting (capped at 50). Low prices per workshop. And now this great offer from UserTesting.com. What are you waiting for?
Free pass to Healthcare Experience Design conference (and a set of our books)
Update: And the winners are… Sarah Mitchell (@sgmitch), who will be attending the Healthcare Experience Design conference on a free pass, and Zoran Krnetic (@krneticz), who will receive a complete set of our books. Congratulations, Sarah and Zoran!
Interested in healthcare and UX? Then you should be attending the Healthcare Experience Design Conference (Boston, April 11). It’s being organized by Mad*Pow and Claricode, and our own Peter Jones is participating in their stellar program.
And now you can win a free conference pass (a $595 value) or a complete set of Rosenfeld Media books—all it takes is a tweet! Here’s how:
(more…)
Free book and 20% off our People Skills for UX conference
Great UX requires more than design and research chops—so we’ve put together a virtual conference to help you develop your listening, facilitation, negotiation, and leadership skills. People Skills for UX brings the collective wisdom of four UX “innies” and four “outsiders”—David Sibbet, Harry Max, Jennifer Pahlka, Julian Treasure, Kevin Hoffman, Kim Goodwin, Michelle Katz, and Steve Portigal—this May 27. And because it’s a virtual conference, you (and your team) can participate in your PJs.
Oh, and recordings are part of the deal.
Take 20% off with code PEOPLESKILLS. Do it by 11:59pm EDT this Friday (April 24) and we’ll send you a free copy of Victor Lombardi’s wonderful book Why We Fail.
Free copy of Remote Research with purchase of Usabilla
Ready to learn about and then do some remote user testing? Then purchase a Usabilla license and you’ll receive a free copy of Nate Bolt and Tony Tulathimutte’s Remote Research.
