How Don Norman's framework applies to sustainable UX and digital product design

Don Norman coined the term " User Experience ." Then he spent his later career arguing that designers have been solving the wrong problems. In Design for a Better World (2023), he lays out a framework called Circular Design. Here's the core of it: The world runs on a linear model: Take raw materials → Make products → Discard as waste. Waste happens at every stage. Not just at the end. Half of all waste is produced before a product is even manufactured: in mining, refining, and transportation alone. The materials we design with take 20 to 500 years to biodegrade. More than 1 million species are now threatened with extinction. 84% of global energy still comes from fossil fuels. These are not environmental stats. These are design consequences . Norman defines three types of planned obsolescence: → Breakdown: components fused so repair is impossible → Progress: new standards that make old products incompatible → Fashion: cosmetic changes that make the old feel outdated And three principles