While technology innovations abound, a growing awareness of the carbon emissions associated with our online browsing habits began to gain traction in 2020. In Low-impact Interfaces, published in August, we examined how designers are working to simplify UX and UI design to be greener and more energy-efficient.
At a time when the average single webpage size is 3.48Mb – more than 24 times the size it was in 2003 (source: Serving Green) – brands are recoding their e-commerce platforms to use less energy. Leading the way, Danish brand Organic Basics’ low-energy version of its online store reduced the amount of data transfer by up to 70% by having a limited number of images and no videos.
Elsewhere, UK design studio Normally has redesign Instagram to be more energy-efficient. The project, Post Abundance, presents a version of Instagram that uses significantly less energy by replacing the platform’s automatic image- and video-loading with text, giving users the option to load only the images they’re genuinely interested in seeing.