Company Ethos
- Commit to sustainability as a team
- Buy local, ethical and green products wherever practical
- Work from convenient locations to avoid excess travel.
- When visiting clients or attending conferences, we use the most efficient means of travel for each journey.
- Avoiding air travel whenever possible.
- Minimise waste to landfill – reduce, reuse, recycle.
- Practise work methods that ensure our printed and digital designs have low carbon footprints.
- Turn off non-essential computers and other electrical sources when not in use.
- Ensure that all computers and equipment are regularly maintained and serviced.
- Donating used technology equipment to other businesses or individuals to extend product lifespan.
- Carefully manage our use of central heating, taking measure to improve efficiency.
- Use digital communication and design methods where possible to reduce paper waste.
Web Design
Images & Videos
The largest files on the majority of web pages are images and videos. Using this media efficiently is one of the best strategies to reduce page weight and energy use, whilst also improving general performance. During the design phase we ensure that all images have a purpose, and whenever possible, we use SVG graphics and CSS code. For the same reason, we avoid using videos unless they add value for the user.
Fonts
Custom font files can significantly increase the file size of a website, meaning higher energy consumption and slower loading. We therefore ensure using best practices for fonts, using variable fonts where possible, or a concise selection of web fonts. We avoid using large icon libraries where appropriate, opting instead for custom SVG graphics.
Third Party Widgets
Many websites use third-party embeds to create an engaging user experience by delegating some sections of a web page to another content provider (feeds, maps, ads, etc.). This has a significant impact on page performance and energy consumption. Our preferred option is to avoid excessive loading of third-party scripts, instead using hardcoded graphics and images as facades, redirecting to the provider’s website where the service may be better optimised.
Usability
The user journey is planned to help users achieve goals as efficiently as possible. Shorter journeys reduce energy consumption as fewer pages are loaded, therefore increasing overall efficiency, in addition to being more pleasant for users.
Colours
On OLED screens, colours make a difference on energy consumption. There is a significant percentage reduction in consumption when using dark colours. However, as not all screens are OLED and since accessibility is also one of our priorities, we aim in this case to achieve a balance between accessibility and energy efficiency, satisfying both.
Development
Images
Web performance and energy consumption, commonly depends on image sizing, format and optimisation. We use responsive images in WebP format where possible, automatically resizing and optimising these when uploaded to the WordPress database. To reduce initial load time, we use “lazy loading”, serving only images that are immediately visible. Where icons and logos are used, inline SVG code is our preferred option, reducing the number of files that the browser needs to call on page load.
Frameworks
Code libraries used during development my include functionalities that are not required for a specific project. We therefore opt to create our own framework, or customise the original, keeping file sizes to a minimum. This improves page speed and saves energy. Furthermore, we use clean, accessible, standard-based code.
CMS
As we do with our framework on the frontend, we also use customised WordPress themes to ensure that backend interactions are as intuitive and efficient as possible, so that editors and administrators can manage and create content easier and faster.
Content
SEO
Time spent searching, clicking and scrolling to find relevant information uses energy. We use good SEO practices, on-site search features and intuitive information architecture, to help people find content directly via a search engine.
CTAs
Call-to-action buttons (CTAs) are essential to direct users to areas of interest. We ensure that these are both user-friendly and accessible, so they can be as effective as possible.
User Tracking
Google Analytics tracks and displays a wealth of data for free. It’s a solid tool that provides useful information, but it also adds extra page weight and load time to a site. We encourage tracking only the data needed by default, being clear on how this will be used and giving the user control over permissions.
Hosting
Green Web
Selecting a green host is one of the easiest ways to reduce the emissions of any web project. Our hosting providers are green certified by The Green Web Foundation.
Environmental impact
Our suppliers have a robust environmental policy covering the responsible use of new equipment and disposal or reuse of old hardware.
Technology
Using the latest stable version of web technologies will generally deliver the best performance, security, and energy efficiency. We ensure that our hosting is automatically updated to the latest versions available.
Cache
Server-side caching keep server processing to a minimum, saving energy and making the website faster. We ensure implementation of effective server caching on our WordPress built websites.
Location
Transmission of data around the world consumes a lot of energy, and the further the data has to travel, the more energy is consumed. We have a selection of hosting options and can offer data centres located close to a product’s user base.