“SUSTAINABLE UX WORKSHOP” AT THE SMART COUNTRY CONVENTION

From October 18 to October 20, 2022, Germany’s largest digitization trade fair, the Smart Country Convention (SCCON), took place in Berlin. The event, which is regarded as a platform for the digital transformation of the public sector, brings together politicians, key decision-makers from the federal, state, and local governments, and experts every year to set the course for the future.

Many municipalities and communities, as well as companies, are already working to successfully achieve the 2030 Agenda and the associated 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. These goals aim to enable a dignified life worldwide and to secure the natural foundations of life. Digital applications are an essential component of this, as many processes that previously filled entire file cabinets must now be transferred to usable software. In addition to a user-centered approach, it is now imperative to broaden the perspective to include a more holistic approach that takes ecological, economic, and social aspects into account.

Based on this forward-looking approach, our UX/UI professionals Magdalena Maciejko and Carolin Weitkamp designed a “Sustainable UX Workshop” for the public sector.

In addition to an introduction to the topic of user experience (UX) and sustainability, the participants worked in groups on a series of tasks that built on each other, thus bridging the gap between the 17 sustainability goals and UX design. Furthermore, the Sustainable UX Workshop was characterized by a lively exchange between the participants and the workshop leaders.

It is clear that awareness of a positive and more sustainable user experience is growing steadily and that there is a high level of willingness to implement this approach in processes and applications. Participants also learned that sustainable UX design can, for example, help to create forms that are understandable and usable for everyone in society. The resulting relief for authorities and users not only saves time and nerves, thus avoiding a negative user experience, but is also in line with ecological resource consumption.

In this way, we can work together to master the challenges of today, whether it’s digitalization or achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

With this in mind, we would like to thank the organizers of the Smart Country Convention, the Bitkom Academy, and the participants for their cooperation and the many interesting discussions.

Photos: © Messe Berlin GmbH | BREDEX GmbH