Disruptive UX for sustainability radically resolving user needs is good for business and environment

Abstract

The paper provides a brief discussion of the basic concepts of sustainability, disruptive innovation, systems thinking theory, and design for behavior change literature. It analyzes several business and design cases closely related to UX and HCI that demonstrated various degrees of success in changing user behaviors to improve the quality of our environment and strengthen communities in the following aspects: reducing pollution from fossil fuel based transportation; reducing waste; providing meaningful and gainful employment; and raising awareness, etc. The paper argues that UX/ HCI, being the bridge between hardware and software, is fundamental in ensuring the success of any sustainability initiatives. The paper contemplates the cultural shift of material to immaterial by sharing economy in the internet age, which is one of the promising ways to help our society move towards sustainability. The paper also identifies certain challenges and room for improvement in user experience research and design for sustainability. In the end, this paper suggests four directions for radically rethinking user experience and human/computer interaction design for sustainability.