SUX - The Sustainable UX Podcast

This time we were joined by one of the long-time trailblazers of digital Sustainability - Tom Greenwood, Founder of Wholegrain Digital and Author of “Sustainable Webdesign”.

We spoke about digital Sustainability, and how Tom’s Journey into it already began 2004. And we discussed the challenges of advocating for digital sustainability and where we are at the moment and what we actually can do as designers on various levels. 

In the second half of the conversation we were diving deep into AI, its impacts and if AI can help us saving the world or helps destroying it. We were discussing if AI is creative and what the use of AI does to us as humans. 

It was a very deep and inspirational conversation and if you want to learn more what you should ask yourself when using AI, tune in to this episode of the SUX Podcast.

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You most probably know our guest already. This time we had the honor to be joined by Don Norman, author of "Design of everyday things" or "Design for a better world" , Co-Founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, University Professor and so much more for many of us.

We spoke about morning walks, elaborated on Humanity Centered Design and why Dons latest book was a different one, when he started writing it. We discussed about the importance of curiosity and made the connection between design, business and decision making and how it relates to sustainability. We spoke about sustainability and why it can only be the beginning and why it is good to be wrong sometimes. And we discussed how human centered design is wrong and why and how it needs to be enhanced and changed.

So, if you want to learn more about Humanity Centered Design and what is wrong with Human Centered Design, about how Don writes his books, but also about how to stay curious and not get older, even when you are 88, join us for this episode of the SUX podcast.

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You probably have heard of life-centered design or non-human personas. But, have you applied it to your work already? 

For this episode we were joined by Damien Lutz from Sydney, Australia, one of the most prominent voices and drivers of life-centered design as well as the author of the “Life-centered design guide” and the “Non-human persona guide”. 

We discussed the problems of nowadays design, how we need to change the way we design from being destructive to being sustainable and regenerative. We spoke about non-human personas and if apples mother nature video is a good thing or not.

So, if you want to hear more about life-centered design, non-human personas and how to apply it. And if you want to learn about Damiens journey into the world of life-centered design, join us for this episode of the SUX Podcast.

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Today we have something very special for you. Finally here it is: the lost episode. Last year we recorded this wonderful and extra long episode with Xhensila Reci from LEGO to speak about Purpose Driven Design. For several reasons, we did not manage to cut it and to decide if we should keep it this long, re-cut it, or make two episodes of it. Since the whole conversation with Xhensila was just wonderful and super insightful, we decided that we did not want to cut anything out. The SUX friendship book was super insightful and we also played Xhensilas wonderful game “Someone You”. 

So, this interview became the first episode that consists of two parts. This part - Part 1 - contains the main conversation, where we spoke about purpose driven design, Xhensilas work at LEGO and how it strongly connects to purpose driven design. 

Part 2 will be released next week as a bonus episode that contains the SUX Friendship Book and also the part where Xhensila and Thorsten play Xhensilas wonderful card game “Someone You”.

So, if you want to learn how to do, achieve and drive purpose driven design, about working at LEGO and why a Banana played an important role in Xhensilas journey into UX and purpose driven design, do not miss this episode as well as the bonus episode.

One little side note: we had a few minor audio issues with Thorstens audio track in the beginning. We apologize for that. And no worries, it will be gone after a few minutes. 

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SUX Podcast Live Episode: this is a recording of the panel discussion about “Collaboration & cooperation as key for sustainability” at the SUX Focus Event 01

A few weeks ago we launched our new event series: SUX Focus Events. The main idea of focus events is to collect a group of experts to discuss and deep dive into a certain topic in a panel discussion.

In this first event we were spotlighting "Cooperation & Collaboration", a theme vital to sustainability and core to SUX Network's mission. And it led to a very inspiring and interesting conversation that we want to share with you here in the podcast.

Join the panel and follow the inspiring conversation Bavo and Thorsten had with:

• Helle Martens - UX Research Consultant and Founder/Host of the UX Copenhagen Conference from Denmark
• Akos Csertan - Impact-driven digital product design expert and Founder of Atlas, Rise! from Hungary
• Laura Korčulanin - Regeneration Consultant and Founder of Give a Shit from Portugal
• Robert Kozma - Emeritus Principal Scientist and Book Author of “Make the World a Better Place” from the US

And stay tuned: The next SUX Focus Event will take place in January/February 2024 and touch the topic “Sustainability and AI”.

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What has hiking in common with World Usability Day and Sustainability?

In this episode we were joined by Elizabeth Rosenzweig, the founder and director of the World Usability Day. We spoke about how World Usability Day started, why it has a strong relation with Sustainability from the very beginning and what its relation to World Earth Day is.

And why hiking? When you go hiking in the wilderness there is one important rule: leave no trace. The question is, how do we design to leave no trace, to cause no more harm?

We discussed how UX and design need to change and how some of our design paradigms need to change and how we can bring this topic to the UN. Further we spoke about why collaboration and cooperation is the topic for this years WUD and even more, why it is an important basis for sustainability.

We also discussed mental health as part of sustainability, the rough times for the design communities nowadays in terms of layoffs and how we can navigate through.

In the end we got down to the core: the problems of capitalism and narratives that are driven by business people only - but also what we could or should do to work towards more balance here.

And we came up with an idea for a global joint workshop of World Usability Day Initiative and the SUX Network we might do in the beginning of 2024. Stay tuned.

If you want to learn about how World Usability Day started and why it is strongly connected to Sustainability or how we could and should tackle the big challenges nowadays with and in design and why we need to get the UN involved, tune in to this episode of the SUX podcast.

Elizabeth’ Channels:

How do we design for a world that is no longer a world shaped by humans but non-human agents like corporations or the capital in general? Human centered design was created for the Anthropocene, and therefore falls short on the challenges of a post-anthropocene world. 

For this episode we met Akos Csertan from Budapest to discuss the challenges for design to solve the urgent problems of today as well as how design has to change to solve the problems of the future. 

We talk about Akos Design Principles for a Post-Anthropocene world and his idea of cyborg centric design. Because we are so stuck to our smartphone - does not make this us all cyborgs already? 

If you want to learn more about designing cyborg centric and hear why the children's book “Momo” from the 70s is the perfect metaphor for nowadays, tune in to this episode of the SUX podcast.

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How do we design services, products or experiences that make the world a better place? Today’s guest is Robert Kozma, the author of “Make the world a better place - Design with passion, purpose and values” and Emeritus Principal Scientist at SRI International.

In a more and more complex world we need to adapt the way we design and refine our role as designers. A moral discourse needs to be added in our work. Design has its own problems and we need to shift the way of thinking and executing design. Robert discusses with us about the role of design in today's crisis times, about the power we have as designers and why everybody is or can be a designer.

If you want to hear more about how you can design for a better world and why Robert was wearing a John Malkovich mask recently, tune in to this latest episode of the SUX Podcast.

Please note: we had some very small and short audio issues at two points of the recording that we couldn’t fix. But no worries, they last only a few seconds.

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Roberts Channels:

LinkedIn

Have you ever wondered about the relation of sustainability and gender-equality, why it is so important and how our work as designers connects with it?

In today's episode, we dive deep into the world of women-centric design—a powerful approach that takes into account the unique experiences and perspectives of women in the design process. And who better to enlighten us on this topic than today’s guest Mansi.

Mansi is a UX designer and an advocate for women-centric design. She firmly believes that by creating inclusive digital experiences tailored to women's needs, we can address social, economic, and environmental challenges head-on.

Get ready to embark on a journey that explores the power of design in creating positive change, as we uncover the incredible potential of women-centric design and its connection to the UN SDGs. It's time to reshape the future, one design at a time.

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Did you know what the ending of a customer relationship has to do with Sustainability? No? Well, than this episode is perfect for you:

We had a very special and inspiring guest. The worlds first Endineer (yes, Endineer) Joe Macleod. Joe wrote two books about this topic and with his company AndEnd he works on how we design better endings of customer relationships.

We spoke about the importance of better endings of the customer relationship and its strong relation to sustainability.

It became a very deep and inspiring conversation, about endineering and sustainability and Joes personal way into the whole topic. If you want to learn how to become an Endineer and why you should become one to design more sustainability products, you should not miss this new episode of the SUX podcast. 

In case you like what you hear, feel free to subscribe, follow and like our podcast. And if you haven't already done so, we invite you to join the SUX network as well.

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Joes Channels:

LinkedIn

We are back, after being a little quite for some time. Thorsten has been sick for a while, Bavo has been sick for a while and project-work kicked in as well. Sometimes being sustainable means also to be sustainable to yourself. You can only spend the time you have and sometimes there is not enough time for everything you want to do. So we had to postpone the start of the 2023 season for some weeks.

But her we are to kickoff 2023. And while we already do the first recordings with some wonderful new guests, we wanted to publish this intermezzo and talk a little bit about what is going on in the SUX Network as well as giving you some sneak peak about the upcoming guests.

So, have fun with with this little intermezzo and stay tuned for the next episode.

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For this episode we had the honor to welcome one of the icons of the ethical design movement: the inspiring Trine Falbe from Denmark, well known for her ongoing work for ethical design, for her books „White hat UX“ as well as „The Ethical Design Handbook“ and for her Ethical Design Network Community.

We talked about Trines way and why Ethical Design and Sustainability directly belong together. We dived deeper into the necessity of Ethical Design, its principles and how YOU can achieve ethical design in your daily work.

We touched so many interesting and so so important topics, that we we forgot a little bit about the time. So, it became a quite long episode and we might jump a little bit back and forth in topics. But every minute is worth to hear - we promise.

In case you like what you hear, feel free to subscribe, follow and like our podcast. And if you haven't already done so, we invite you to join the SUX network as well.

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Together with Tim Frick, one of the icons of digital design sustainability, we talk about the beginnings of Sustainable UX, where we are today and where the future could take us.

Tim tells us where his passion for sustainable design comes from. We discuss the importance of impact measurement and what he would change if he could write his book "Designing for Sustainability" again today.

He also shares his years of experience with his BCorp certified agency, Mighty Bites, on how to win over clients and how YOU can make a difference, whether you are a junior or a senior.

Feel free to subscribe, follow and like our podcast. And if you haven't already done so, we invite you to join the SUX network.

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