Version 03 January 2023

IBM Design for

sustainability
and design checklist for sustainability
Introduction
IBM designers are committed to making progress to improve the The EU Science Hub’s Sustainable Product Policy estimates that
human condition, society, and the environment. “over 80% of all product-related environmental impacts are
determined during the design phase.” Design has an immense
As designers we define sustainability as bringing prosperity to opportunity to increase positive impacts while reducing harm.
all people, communities, and the planet. Sustainability includes When we design digital experiences, our goal is to optimize
reducing our impact on limited resources. To achieve this vision performance, speed, and responsiveness for both the user and
of sustainability, we practice IBM Design for sustainability and the system.
use it as a framework for how we satisfy the needs of the present
without compromising the future. This is how we ensure that
IBM’s designers and their teams create more sustainable value.

Design for sustainability requires a diverse and empowered

team. As a team, we make sure that the user, community,
“Good design is good business. Good
and social value of the experience outweigh any negative design is also more sustainable.”
environmental and social impact. Understanding these impacts
and their effect on the delivered experience is especially critical
when AI is included. An efficient and inclusive front end has only Chris Hammond
so much impact on sustainability unless equal attention is given Design Principal
to the development and operations of the experience. IBM Sustainability Software

Our guiding Inclusive for all Easy to learn Efficient for

principles are: living things. and to use for users and power
Enabled by diverse all people. consumption.
empowered teams.

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IBM Design
practices for
sustainability
Many IBM Design practices
improve sustainability.

Enterprise Design Thinking and sustainability  IBM Design Language and Carbon Design System
– Enterprise Design Thinking (EDT) has always emphasized – The IBM Design Language guides designers to consider
the need for diverse teams to deliver intuitive, efficient, and usefulness, remove anything unnecessary, and positively
inclusive solutions. advance the world.
– EDT activities include sustainability considerations to deliver – IBM’s design system, the Carbon Design System, is built on
human-centered outcomes without compromising the needs the IBM Design Language. The design system contributes to
of future generations. sustainability through:
– EDT activities consider environmental and social – Shared common components and reusable assets that
sustainability impacts. are based on usability best practices and use built-in
accessibility to ensure inclusion.
– Consolidation and reduction of code, creating more efficient
IBM Design Research and insights
libraries and packages.
– Great experiences are always founded on users and
– Reduced time to design and build experiences.
contextual insights.
– An open source design system to expand access and enable
– Context must include diverse representation of people,
contribution from diverse users.
communities, and the planet.
– Well-researched experiences are intuitive, use fewer
resources, and reduce design errors that lead to costly
post-production rework.

– Continuous insight collection informs priorities and drives

design efficiency by eliminating work with no market fit.
– Usability studies are conducted regularly to improve user
efficiency and effectiveness.

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Inclusive design   IBM Design checklist for sustainability
– Our experiences go beyond being human-centered to – IBM uses heuristics to evaluate overall product usability and
encompass good stewardship of our planet’s limited desirability, improve inclusive and accessible design practices,
resources for all living things, now and in the future. and reduce the size of the design, the bits and bytes required
– IBM believes that our experiences must include everyone, to deliver the experience.
across the broad spectrum of race, color, religion, gender, – As part of IBM’s Design & User Experience (D&UX) reviews,
gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, IBM created a design for sustainability checklist to help teams
national origin, ability, political affiliation, age, and evaluate experiences against sustainability best practices,
veteran status. Inclusion increases user satisfaction including optimizing performance, speed, and responsiveness.
across a wider population.   – Larger images and files increase size and impact energy
– IBM is committed to Racial Equity in Design and openly consumption and associated emissions. Longer load times
shares our expertise in nurturing inclusive design culture. decrease user satisfaction. Reducing the size of our designs
is an effective change that, cumulatively, can positively
– Accessibility provides equal access and ease of use for all impact data usage and the environment.
users, regardless of their abilities. Accessible design translates
into increased performance with fewer required resources. – The checklist includes considerations for sustainability
across user experience, visual design, content design,
inclusion, and performance.

IBM Design for AI  

– Technology must always be in service of improving the human
condition without causing harm. The needs of the living
always outweigh technology. Our designed experiences
can impact millions.
– IBM considers the generated user value against the
environmental impact to train and maintain the systems.
– Value is created in the form of augmented human capabilities
that improve over time.
– We enable trustworthy outcomes, through the application
of our AI design ethics that consider accountability, value
alignment, explainability, fairness, and user data rights.

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IBM Design
culture for
sustainability

Education
Diversity, equity, and inclusion  
– IBM provides sustainability training and certification,
– The Racial Equity in Design initiative is committed to
including Enterprise Design Thinking for sustainability.
ensuring racial equity is instilled in the design culture inside
Education includes core sustainability concepts, practical
and outside of IBM by driving change through our interactions,
applications, and facilitator training to help practitioners
investments, and actions that impact behaviors, policies,
scale these practices.
and deep-seated assumptions. Career success resources
– IBM Design is a prominent track in the IBM Accelerate program are shared publicly so that other organizations can leverage
to provide opportunities to all in design and technology. our assets.
– IBM Accessibility is a market leader. All resources, including
the IBM Equal Access Toolkit, are available to help anyone
create products that work for everyone.
– The IBM Inclusive Design Guild goals are to effect a culture
of inclusivity through systemic change, enable inclusive
design through diversification of our tools and processes,
Design for sustainability practices and tools and expose stories of diverse lived experiences to create
design experiences that are inclusive of everyone and
– A more-sustainable future is based on the awareness of our
every living thing.
impacts. Fully remote work is challenging to relationships.
Fully in-office work imposes a wellness burden on employees – IBM Design strives to nurture complex problem solvers,
and increases greenhouse gas emissions. IBM Design is a creative innovators, and radical collaborators to deliver
hybrid work environment, where collaboration often occurs in experiences that exemplify design excellence by considering
person and the focused work of individuals occurs remotely. a diverse and inclusive range of user needs.
– IBM’s digital design toolset helps drive remote collaboration,
increase efficiency, and reduce environmental impacts.

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IBM Design
checklist for
sustainability

Many of these concepts might be familiar. This checklist helps Familiar examples of design practices
us to view good design practices through a sustainability
lens. Most design decisions have sustainability implications. viewed through a sustainability lens
Understanding the downstream impact of our design choices
helps to build our sustainability consciousness, resulting in
more sustainable designs.
Content design
Use best practices that optimize for accessibility, usability, and
search. Information efficiency, concise text, and plain language
Intended outcomes help users find content and accomplish their tasks quickly.

– Reduce resource use.

We design and deliver experiences that reduce the use Inclusive design
of resources. The fewer computing, storage, and network
Understand the potential range of platforms, devices, and
requirements, the smaller the impact to the environment.
connection speeds. Not all users have equal access to
This decrease in required resources translates to less energy
technology. The environment in which your users are operating
consumption, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and less water
also differs in terms of noise, lighting, and other factors.
consumption. Small actions cumulatively deliver positive
impacts on sustainability.

– Create better experiences for everyone. User experience design

We design and deliver experiences that increase ease of use, Focus on usability to help people achieve their goals efficiently
task efficiency, system responsiveness, and user satisfaction. and with satisfaction, and reduce unnecessary page loading in
Overall, simplified experiences are more efficient and inclusive the context of use.
because the content works for the largest possible number
of people.
Visual design
Concentrate on key visual assets: video, images, and fonts.
These assets significantly affect both page size and overall
application size, which impact sustainability.

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Checklist for
sustainability Content Inclusion User experience Visual

General Context

Simplify the experience to increase C I U

Understand the potential range of platforms,
task efficiency devices, and connection speeds, including I U

mobile, cloud, edge, and desktop

Reuse content and assets when possible C U

Understand different environments and

Remove pages and assets that aren’t used C I U V
access to technology, such as older devices I U

and less bandwidth

Guide users to complete their work: C U

Understand the range of different user

Optimize user flows to help the user I U
backgrounds and abilities
navigate with ease
Understand the variety of potential input
Optimize search to help users find content I U
with accurate and straightforward results methods, such as keyboard, touch, and voice

Optimize clear messaging that helps the Image

user to act
Provide the smallest image with the
V
Use accessible embedded assistance C I U V
same visual impact
and online documentation
Deliver expression with vector graphics V
Clearly explain user data policies with a or CSS style when possible
C I
focus on fairness
Reduce images that are not visible to
V
Use accessibility audit tools to evaluate, C I U V
the user, such as in carousels
understand, and optimize inclusion
Include accessible captions for images C I
Use tools to evaluate, understand, and
C I U V
optimize the weight of each page Use alternative (alt) text for all
C I
nondecorative images
Color
Minimize the number of images and C I U V
Use accessible color combinations and I V
ensure the user value for each image
color contrast
Video
Communicate information in ways that I V
do not rely on color alone Minimize video length while still conveying
C
Provide a choice for light or dark mode the same message
U V
based on user and system preference
Remove auto play C I

Teaming
Include preview images for video playback C I V

Collaborate with engineering to optimize C I V

U
impact to compute, store, and network Include accessible captions for videos V

Collaborate with team to ensure AI social Minimize the number of videos and
C V
value is greater than negative social and C I U
ensure the user value for each video
environmental impact
Font
Collaborate with engineering to estimate the
environmental impact of your experience, C I U Load only the fonts that are needed V

including AI training and maintenance

Minimize the font footprint V

Collaborate with your team to set

C I U V
sustainability targets for your next release Use appropriate font sizes I V

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Produced in the United States of America

January 2023

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