Good design is more sustainable
“Good design is good business.”
-Thomas Watson, Jr.
That statement by former IBM President Thomas Watson, Jr. still rings true. Good design is crucial to business success. Today more than ever, sustainability is a critical component of business success. A sustainable approach considers people and their communities and reduces the impact on our planet’s limited resources. Sustainability satisfies the needs of the present without compromising the future.
Customers and suppliers are demanding it. Businesses want to know that their partners have well-defined sustainability strategies and practices. As one of the largest enterprise software companies in the world, we have a unique opportunity to share our sustainable software design practices that are making a difference for our customers and the planet.
If you search for sustainable software, you will find references to sustainable development & IT initiatives like the Green Software Foundation. However, few, if any, references to sustainable design practices exist. IBM is one of the first enterprise software companies to publish a formal position paper detailing its design for sustainability practices. We are leading the way.
This is about increasing our positive impact on humans and life while reducing our impact on the planet. Design has a vital role to play in accomplishing that. At IBM, we include sustainability goals upfront. We ensure that the design solutions solve our customer’s problems today. We also consider the solution’s future impact on our communities and the planet.
At IBM, we recognize that design decisions have an impact on sustainability. Our position paper includes a design checklist for sustainability. This helps designers, both in IBM and externally, ensure that we view our design choices through a sustainability lens. These checklists include content, user experience, and visual design.
We must all be conscious of our designs’ impact on sustainability, society, and the environment. Not only is good design good business, but good design is also more sustainable.
Explore and then bookmark IBM Design for sustainability. Download the pdf, apply the concepts, help us bring sustainability consciousness to enterprise design everywhere.
