The State of Sustainable Design

According to Leyla Acaroglu Sustainable Design is the approach to creating products and services that have considered the environmental, social, and economic impacts from the initial phase through to the end of life.

Being a designer in the climate crisis era (including Eco-Anxiety ) comes with a unique set of implications, responsibilities, and opportunities. Here are some key directions:

• We should prioritize sustainability in our work, going beyond just using eco-friendly materials, reducing waste, and considering the full lifecycle of products to minimize environmental impact. Sustainable design spans all fields, from digital touchpoints to service design. The question to address is: How can we calculate the environmental impact of our intangible system?
• We already know that our job holds a significant ethical responsibility (thanks Cennydd Bowles ). This means making and documenting conscious choices, providing the alternatives considered and the reasons behind our concepts. There is an increasing demand for transparency in how products are made and their environmental impact. Designers must be accountable for their choices and be prepared to provide clear information about the sustainability of their designs.
• We have to zoom out from the interaction, the touchpoint or the single journey/Scenario: any designer is a systemic designer, 'cause we must adopt a systemic approach, considering the broader implications of our work within environmental, social, and economic systems. This holistic view is crucial for creating solutions that are sustainable in the long term.
• Consider the whole context requires interdisciplinary collaboration. The concept and the output should be outcome driven. We need to work closely with scientists, engineers, policymakers, and community leaders to develop comprehensive solutions that address environmental and social challenges from multiple angles.
• Our output is temporary due to the nature of the context. Any design must focus on creating resilient systems and structures that can adapt to changing environmental conditions. Easy examples are designing buildings that can withstand extreme weather events or creating products that can be easily repaired or repurposed. How can we use the same resilience in the system design practice?
• We have the power to nudge consumer behavior through our work. There's a opportunity: we could be a force of positive change encouraging people and organizations to make environmentally friendly choices.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“We interrogate the world by making.” – Bill Burnett

BEST OPPORTUNITY OF THE MONTH

UI Designer at City of Vienna

BEST UPCOMING EVENTS

Design & Climate. Rethinking our role

Calling designers to join us for afternoon of inspiring talks and workshops and leave empowered to turn lessons into action. June 14th, London.

OTHER EVENTS

AIDA Conference ? “Information Architecture as an Academic Discipline” conference in Krakow. Jorge Arango and Heather Hedden are special guests.

• Date: Jun 11-12
• Free: No
• Where: Krakow, Poland

Typographics 2024 ? The main event of the 2024 Typographics festival is a conference with speakers from around the world, focused on the contemporary use of type. It takes place June 14–15 at Cooper Union in New?York?City.

• Date: Jun 14-15
• Free: No
• Where: New York, USA

UX London ? Join us at CodeNode London for a three-day conference covering all aspects of the design process from user research and product design through to DesignOps and design systems.

• Date: Jun 18-19
• Free: No
• Where: London, UK

OPN Festival ? Created by weareseventeen and Ravensbourne University, OPN Festival is a 2-day celebration of the thriving Motion Design industry, providing thought-provoking insights and discussion.

• Date: Jun 20-21
• Free: Yes (Professionals: 2-day ticket ￡50 / single-day ticket ￡30.Students: All students can register for a free ticket. Please bring your student card or proof of studies for admission)
• Where: London, UK

Product at Heart ? A conference for curious product people.

• Date: Sept 11-13
• Free: No
• Where: Hamburg, Germany

Intersection Conference 2024 ? the tenth edition of the leading conference on strategic Enterprise Design. This year the theme is "on the edge enterprises": those that seize opportunities, make changes happen and thrive; those that face big environmental, societal or ecosystem challenges.

• Date: September 18–20
• Free: No
• Where: Rome, Italy

UxCon Vienna ? Join the adventure as 50 UX leaders head to the Tyrolean Alps for 2.5 days of soaking up exclusive content from top-notch international experts.

• Date: Sept 18-20
• Free: No
• Where: Wien, Austria

Italian IA summit - The Italian Community about information architecture

• Date: Sept 27-28
• Free: No
• Where: Rome, Italy

JOBS I CHOOSE TO PROMOTE

JOB20240601 - Senior UX Designer at 谷歌 Health (Bucharest, Romania)

JOB20240602 - UX Designer at IBM

JOB20240603 - UI Designer Confirmè at Parfums Christian Dior

JOB20240604 - UX Designer at 富士通

JOB20240605 - Senior UX at The Tour Guy

JOB20240606 - UI Designer at efficy

JOB20240607 - UI Designer at Just Eat Takeaway.com

JOB20240608 - Middle UI at Fiven

JOB20240609 - UX Designer at Ryanair - Europe's Favourite Airline

JOB20240610 - Senior UX Designer at netflix

JOB20240611 - UI Designer at 诺华 (Prague, Czech Republic)

INTERNSHIPS I CHOOSE TO PROMOTE

INT20240601 - UX Design Intern at Fiven

INT20240602 - UX Intern at goldengoose goldengoose

INT20240603 - UX Intern at Worldline

INT20240604 - UX Designer at DEPT? (Amsterdam)

INT20240605 - Digital Project Manager Intern at intranet.ai

WORTH READING, WATCHING OR LISTENING

(book) Managing Priorities by Harry Max

(book) Surviving Change at work by Vanessa Gennarelli

(article) Unbundling user research by Dave Hora

(article) Generative AI is reshaping our mental models of how products work. Product teams must adjust by Reena Jana , Mahima Pushkarna , Soojin Jeong

(podcast) Interviewing Users with Steve Portigal (Over ten years have passed since the first edition of "Interviewing Users" was released. Together with Steve, we reflect on how user research has evolved during the past decade, and how the importance of user research in order to understand people and their needs is still crucial)

(video) Product Talk London - Stakeholder Management

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THANKS TO

Per Lorin , Christian Lindborg and Gertjan Dieleman for the Circuit project

Francesco Vetica for his continuous inspiration

Indi Young for Listening Deeply

Noel Franus for sharing his JUXT project

Keep in touch!

Raffaele