The idea of ‘Seeing is Believing’ has, many a times, led humans to be oblivious to facts, especially when it comes to long-term effects on a global scale. Here is an example. What if we told you that each one of us is contributing to global-warming, every time we spend time on our phone? It might sound outlandish to a few, but it’s true. Reasons similar to these have led to the concept of ‘Green UX’ gaining importance in the recent years.
Climate change is a real concept. Believe it or not, digitization and the internet contribute to the greenhouse effect in quite a significant amount. A 2017 report by Greenpeace has shown that the IT sector contributes to 7% of the entire carbon emission footprint of the world. Be it Communication Networks, or Data Centers, energy is being consumed every minute of every day. Moreover, the Internet is responsible for utilizing tons of electricity, with the numbers going up each day. Excessive data usage releases a lot of carbon emissions, resulting in a significant increase in global warming.
Unknowingly, UX and UI designers are helping reduce carbon emission through their work. For every second that they are able to reduce in a process, a small amount of electricity is saved. This might seem less as an independent event. But considering globally, millions of Developers and Designers make the online flow of Digital projects more efficient. There are numerous ways in which developers can optimize the user experience. The first one is optimizing the visuals by decreasing the data usage. This can be achieved by compressing images, as well as using vectors that help in scaling images without hampering their quality.
Another step towards Green UX can be attained by building an interface that is easily accessible to users. This method holds the potential to drastically reduce data usage. An uncomplicated design indicates less loading of different pages. This further implies limited use of data. This can be accomplished by creating content that is coherent in nature so the users can access it with ease. ‘Digitalization within digitalization’, as it might be called, is a hope for Green UX designing.
At Saransh, we have encouraged the idea of Green Digitalization and Green UX right from the beginning. However, the idea of an eco-friendly UX can only be fully accomplished when bigger players in the IT sector start believing in the vision of a sustainable future. They can do so by practicing a work culture that is focused towards the benefit of the environment. For instance, remote work should be encouraged in companies, as it cuts-down on carbon emissions by saving fuel. Alongside this, renewable resources of energy can also be consumed by investing in ‘green hosts.’
In conclusion, there are plenty of ‘green solutions’ and it is just about the choices we make in our everyday lives. The time has come when all of us must make conscious choices and work hard to improve the condition of the planet.