miljöUX

MiljöUX is a design approach within user experience design that explicitly aims to reduce the environmental impact of digital products and services. The term combines miljö (environment in Swedish) with UX to emphasize sustainability as a core UX consideration, not a secondary constraint. MiljöUX considers the ecological footprint across the product’s lifecycle, including energy consumption, data transmission, material use, e-waste, and the long-term viability of the solution.

Practices associated with MiljöUX include energy-aware interfaces (limiting animations, efficient state management, offline capability), data efficiency (compression, selective syncing, intelligent caching), and calm performance to reduce device wakeups and processor load. It also advocates for durable, repairable hardware designs, modular software, responsible data practices, and green hosting with powered servers and renewable energy. The approach also emphasizes designing for behavior change that reduces environmental impact, such as encouraging longer device lifespans and sustainable usage patterns.

Key principles include efficiency by default, sufficiency over feature bloat, transparency about environmental impact, lifecycle thinking, accessibility, and user control over energy settings. Evaluation relies on metrics such as energy consumption per user action, data transfer and page weight, CPU time, and estimated carbon footprint of operations. For hardware-integrated products, life cycle assessment and end-of-life strategies are considered.

Applications range from energy-conscious website interfaces and mobile apps to services designed for low-bandwidth environments and offline functionality. MiljöUX is often implemented in collaboration among product teams, engineers, and sustainability officers, aligning UX with organizational environmental goals.