Ecolens

Digital sustainability benchmark tool

Helps design teams benchmark and improve the sustainability of their digital projects.

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Domain

Ethical design

Client(s)

Luis Rodil-Fernández, Design Agency

My role

UX Designer, UI Designer

Project duration

2 months

Team (4)

Sebastian Jaime Moncada, Julie Reyes Villalta, Muskan Jain, Stefan van Brummelen

Design challenge

How can we help design agencies understand and improve their digital sustainability impact on a project level through a benchmarking tool?

Problem statement - reduce digital footprint design agencies

Digital design agencies lack clear, project-level insights into their digital sustainability impact, making it difficult to measure and improve their digital footprint.

Problem statement

Digital design agencies lack clear, project-level insights into their digital sustainability impact, making it difficult to measure and improve their digital footprint.

Digital sustainability benchmark tool

The benchmark tool is designed for design agencies or companies with a dedicated design team. It helps them understand and improve their digital sustainability impact at the project level through benchmarking.

Solution

The solution

Digital sustainability benchmark tool

A benchmarking tool for design teams to assess and improve project-level digital sustainability.

Definition of digital sustainability

The 5 core values of digital sustainability

Based on research and expert reviews, we defined a value set for the tool to assess projects according to five digital sustainability values.

Clean

Stewardship principles

Avoiding manipulative design

Product lifecycle

Operational digital efficiency

Operational digital efficiency

Design process

Design-by-doing

Approach

Shifted from the Double Diamond framework to a design-by-doing methodology, combining research for design and research through design.

Target audience

Focused on design agencies after mapping stakeholders and assessing influence areas.

Approach

Shifted from the Double Diamond framework to a design-by-doing methodology, combining research for design and research through design.

Target audience

Focused on design agencies after mapping stakeholders and assessing influence areas.

Research

Explored existing digital sustainability tools, frameworks, and certifications. Collaborated with Faraday (Amsterdam-based design agency) through weekly sessions and expert interviews.

Research

Explored existing digital sustainability tools, frameworks, and certifications. Collaborated with Faraday (Amsterdam-based design agency) through weekly sessions and expert interviews.

Key insights

"We need to balance profitable projects with sustainability." "AI adoption is critical to stay competitive."

Key insights

"We need to balance profitable projects with sustainability." "AI adoption is critical to stay competitive."

Iterations

Tested early concepts with the agency and peers. Digitized the value-mapping workshop, removing physical elements for better usability. Developed a digital benchmarking tool to evaluate sustainability through targeted questions.

Iterations

Final outcome

Validated with experts, confirming the tool’s value in assessing projects, raising awareness, and providing actionable insights. Highlighted ethical considerations around AI’s role in sustainability tools.

Final outcome

Interactive prototype

Digital sustainability benchmark tool