Usability 4 Sustainability

• 2011-08-20

  the business vs. sustainability balancing act

  So I’m currently writing a business plan for an application we’re developing here at muigui. And no, it has nothing whatsoever to do with (environmental) sustainability, and yes, this was something of a big decision for me to personally come to terms with, as a major precept of the intent of our endeavours when developing our own projects here was to see how we can utilise digital media technology to support environmental sustainability.

  This may well be a reflection of our idealism (such an unfashionable term these days, it seems, where everything has to be coated in a thick skin of sarcasm, dripping with irony to be palatable for current tastes… or is that me just being cynical?), but we’re also realists, and more necessarily, pragmatists, which basically means we’ve got to make a living…

  So this business proposition is shamelessly, unapologetically revenue orientated, although at the core of it is a really cool app which a lot of people will find incredibly useful and get a great deal of enjoyment out of; regardless of whatever else we may be able to sell them whilst we have their attention. 

  To make it happen is going to necessitate a serious focus of our resources, which will put our sustainability apps development on the shelf for a while. This is disappointing, but unless we could get funding for that (and whilst this seemed potentially plausible a couple of years ago when we were conceptualising all this) in the current economic climate where already well established charities and NGOs are struggling, what hope do we really have?

  Money is an unavoidable necessity in this world of ours, and even those who desire to work for change can’t avoid this present truth. So… the plan is to develop something which will give us the financial freedom to be able to ultimately work on the projects we dreamt of at the start. That is, developing tools and technologies to help support and help ensure the success of sustainable community initiatives. Initiatives in which we also actively participate within our own community, such as food co-ops and community food growing (and there are so many more great things like this to come). 

  I guess this current direction is borne from the need for economic sustainability - what can we do if we can’t afford to live? Pretty much everyone has to work for a living and most jobs, at some level, are ultimately connected to unethical, unsustainable practices, because that is our ‘world’. 

  Of course there is an alternative - to ‘drop out’ altogether and explore other ways of living outside of our excessively consumerist society. And I think this is great, because more than just ‘doing their bit’ to keep their ecological footprint as small as possible, many people who do this are establishing useful models of new and different ways of living which could help provide new templates for living in a balanced way with the planet in the future. I explored this path myself, when I was much younger, and it was very liberating and inspiring to live outside the constraints of the treadmill of mainstream society, as a wage slave, clocking in daily just to pay off all the bills for all the stuff you need or just think you need. But let’s not kid ourselves, even ‘free’ living requires resources which have to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is often likely to not be a sustainable source. The way our world ‘works’, is a problem which has always bothered me, and as much as I feel I could very happily retreat to a rural idyll and shut the rest of the world out, I can’t. I feel strongly compelled to be involved in the world, to work within it to keep trying to change what I can, where I can, where I think it will help. I also strongly feel it’s necessary for a more balanced perspective to start influencing the big (and small) decisions in how the world works, which requires inclusion and participation of more women, and people from other marginalised groups (be it due to class, ethnicity, health issues… everything). 

  So… this is me, I suppose, justifying my decision (to myself as much as anybody else…).

  On the plus side for the sustainability projects, the ‘Sustainable Futures’ unit I created for the MA Interactive Media (at LCC, University of the Arts London) where I teach has been a great success and is being extended from a 10 to a 20 credit unit, meaning students will not only be conceptualising projects for sustainable initiatives (which they’ve been doing for the past 2 years, with wonderful results, many of which I’d love to share here with the permission of the students and college) but now they’re actually be able to develop these projects for real! So it IS happening, just not in the way / place I thought it would… but does that matter? In fact having 30 highly talented students working on something is even better than 2 people who are also trying to juggle earning a living to pay their bills. In the future, a great scenario would be that we could partner with the course in some way to help ensure the projects can run past their lives as college projects and be used effectively in real life. And this, on another note, I think really illustrates the importance of maintaining education for education’s sake. Because it provides a place and a forum to explore things commerce doesn’t allow. Although our MA is actually very industry led, we’re still able to explore sustainability and creativity in ways which we rarely get the chance to in our working lives. But how can these practices and this thinking develop without a forum for it? The University is an ideal place for these things to emerge, so let’s hope we’re allowed to continue, and the pressure to gear everything in education purely towards ‘getting a job at the end of it’ (which understandably almost all students need, in order to pay off their crippling debts), doesn’t take away these other vital functions of education. But that’s a whole other post I’m getting started on…

  Note: Oh the irony… since I wrote this, our teaching hours have been threatened with cuts so severe I fear for the future of the course (despite the fact our course 1. Makes a profit, 2. 100% of last years’ students are in employment in jobs within our industry – nearly half of those in UX related roles) Watch this space…

• 2010-06-16

  “the classroom of the community”

  The user-centered (or ‘human-centered) design process, where we spend a lot of time discovering our users needs and their context of use, differs from that of what many would consider a ‘conventional’ design process, where the designer sits in their studio and creates designs based solely on their expert knowledge of the subject.

  Although I work in the realm of digital user-interfaces, consideration of the users’ needs and context of use is critical for any area of design, be it digital, physical or service design.

  A good example of this which I’m sure most people can relate to is architectural design. The building I live in is not only too cold in the winter, but also too hot in the summer. It’s just not designed to live in comfortably in our climate. This wastes a lot of precious resources (through heating and various ad-hoc improvements to make it more comfortable), as well as precious time and energy (I’ve often been unable to sleep due to it being too hot, too cold, colds have worsened due to icy draughts blowing through the building, poor sound insulation has caused stress and tension between neighbours… I could go on). 

  Anyone planning to design residential apartments would do well to come and live in one for a while, through all the seasons to get a genuine idea of what it’s like!

  An example which stands in strong contrast to this type of architectural design is Aubern University’s ‘Rural Studio’ which was established by teacher and architect Sam Mockbee. Rather than working in a separate environment, detached from their clients, students get to know their clients - residents of one of the most impoverished communities in the US, Hale County Alabama, and learn about their lives and their needs. 

  

  [The Butterfly House, by Rural Studio]
  
  And this is the essence of properly considered user-centred design, which is truly human-centred at its core, and is much more responsible (and sustainable) as a consequence. 

  But more than this, the students learn that they are part of the community - not separate from it. And I think this is something which is a key differentiator between most current, mainstream design, (and even user-centered design), and sustainable design. 

  Sustainable design takes a step forward from user-centered design, to not only research users needs, but to view the wider context within which both designer, and client inhabit. Because in sustainable design, the designers are ALSO the clients, even if the design isn’t for our use, we’re all bound up in the same overall interconnected system, reliant on the same resources, so everything we design is ‘for us’ ultimately anyway. Perhaps in this way we can learn to produce more responsible designs?

  Why am I posting this?

  To further explore the parallels between Sustainable design and User Centred design.

• 2010-05-14

  Welcome to Usability for Sustainability

  What?
  Usability 4 Sustainability is a blog documenting my research, ideas and discoveries relating to the integration of User-centred R&D, with Environmental Sustainability.

  Basically, I’m looking at ways to apply Usability and User-centred design methodologies to create new User Interfaces which will support Environmental sustainability.

  The rationale for this is that with User centred design, we don’t just design an interface and expect a user to know how to use it, want to use it or need to use it. We research thoroughly to understand their needs and behaviour, and design thoughtfully and iteratively to create something of genuine value to them. Most people experience frustration using a website or application at one time or another, and often the cause of this is that the usability of the design has been neglected. 

  So how does this relate to Sustainability? Well, much (but not all) of our current un-sustainability may be considered a design issue. If you look at most of products (both physical, and digital) we use, they are generally neither sustainable in design, or support sustainable behaviour in the user. Therefore, design is a key issue for a sustainable future.

  To support ‘sustainable design’, User-centred research methodologies can be expanded, to not only consider the user, but also the wider context within which they inhabit – their environment. In this way, user-centred design can help support us to design in a way which genuinely considers the environmental implications of our proposed products, by developing a more thorough understanding of their true context of use.

  Why?

  A few years ago I was considering getting out of the digital industry, and going back to school to study Ecology, or something similar. But on reflection I felt that if we’re going to ‘save the planet’, every industry will need to change, including mine – so why not start there, where I already have a lot of experience?

  Who?

  I’m Mazy Burns, I’m a Usability / User Experience Design professional (won’t go into my CV, but if you want you can see it here: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/mazyburns).
  Essentially, I help create User Interfaces which are designed to meet the needs of the user, which are as easy and enjoyable to use as possible.

  I’m also a lecturer on the MA Interactive Media, at the LCC, University of the Arts London (course website: http://maimm.arts.ac.uk/). I’m responsible for the Usability / User centred design / User Experience strand, and more recently, the ‘Sustainable Futures’ strand, where we look at how we can use Interactive Media to support environmental sustainability.

  On a personal level, I live in London with my boyfriend and my dog. In my spare time I love to read, watch movies, eat delicious vegetarian food, do yoga, travel, attend festivals, go for nature walks and grow veggies. My indulgencies are red wine, chocolate and fashion (for want of a better word… basically, I love clothes!).

  I love nature and the environment, and like many people, I’m seeking to lessen my own destructive impact on it and learn new ways to live more harmoniously with it. I’m definitely NOT an expert on ‘green’ living, so if this is what you’re looking for, you’re in the wrong place. But I’m continuously learning and trying…