Reducing Website Carbon Emissions: Designing Digital Sustainability

The design was implemented through an initial process of auditing the existing website and measuring its carbon emissions. Our focus was on energy intensive elements that we could redesign or improve upon: code, typography, colour, images, content, layout. We documented the process in a comprehensive open source case study which demonstrates and compares our previous site’s elements against the new site, along with CO2 and energy measurements. This process came through noting the emissions between the old site and new site, which ultimately led to creating the case study and exceeding the design brief.

The project successfully satisfies, and exceeds, all attributes across functionality, accessibility, aesthetics, quality and sustainability. User experience was a priority, ensuring adherence to Google’s Material Design, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Colour Contrast Checker. The website is clear and easy to follow, reducing the number of clicks and allowing greater accessibility of content. Navigation is simplified and clearly described to make information easy to find. While the design is restrained and functional, it relies on strong typography to ensure visual interest and user engagement, minimise lengthy copy and divide sections of content into digestible forms.

The project communicates the benefits of investing in professional design through our demonstration of leading design skills, research and knowledge, and using our own website as a pioneering example. The project also sets a new benchmark for design excellence through its industry-first case study that demonstrates how we approached and solved the challenge.

Most of us don’t think or even know about digital carbon emissions or energy consumption, but once we do it’s a breakthrough moment. Our project helps solve the legitimate problem of contributing to climate change through online activity, because every website is hosted on a server and most of the world’s servers are powered by fossil fuels. By reducing our impact we can contribute to a greener web, and the project creates a new opportunity for people to do that through our innovative case study and supporting website.

The overall outcome of the project was the reduction of our website carbon emissions by 67% — from 1.21g CO2 to 0.42g CO2. From the documentation of our research, design, and development process, we created a case study which we had not anticipated at the project’s briefing stage. The design succeeds in using processes that have the least possible environmental impact in their use.

This project was created by a Melbourne-based design studio and highlights the value and importance in investing in professional design. It also helps businesses transition to sustainable practices, and creates a new opportunity for designers, studios and agencies by helping them offer low emission websites as a new service for clients looking to reduce their impact.

This project represents excellence in sustainable design principles through its industry-first case study that documents how we reduced our website carbon emissions through research and audit processes, calculations, and professional design. To supplement the website we created the case study to inspire others, help fellow designers, studios and agencies to create low emission websites as a new service for clients looking to reduce their impact, and to help businesses transition to sustainable digital practices. Overall we reduced our website carbon emissions by 67%.