Thought leadership & advocacy

Writing & speaking

I research, write, and present on web sustainability, digital carbon footprints, and accessible design systems.

Illustration from A List Apart article on sustainable web development
A List Apart

Sustainable web development

Back in the 2010s I became interested in finding ways to apply UX methodology to climate change. The result of my research was this article, one of the earliest to calculate and highlight the direct carbon cost of specific digital interface choices.

Read on A List Apart
Footer fetish
SustainableUX

Footer fetish

Examining page weight and excessive DOM complexity in modern web footers.

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Sustainable UX
Shopify

Sustainable UX

Practical strategies for digital designers to measure and reduce online carbon footprints.

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Tackling my carbon footprint
Medium

Tackling my carbon footprint

Personal case study tracking everyday digital consumption and server energy.

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Designing for sustainability
Contributor • Tim Frick (O'Reilly)

Designing for sustainability

Author Tim Frick was an early keynote speaker at my SustainableUX conference; contributed case notes on digital efficiency.

Successful user experience (2nd ed.)
Contributor • Elizabeth Rosenzweig

Successful user experience (2nd ed.)

Contributed a chapter 3 case study detailing practical methods for integrating accessibility into enterprise UX delivery.

Conference speaking & workshops

Focus: web sustainability, performance, and accessibility
2,000
Largest audience
Keynote presentation at international summit
5
Countries
Keynotes and workshops delivered internationally
4.8 / 5
Speaker rating
Average attendee evaluation score at UXPA Boston

United States

  • SXSW (Austin)
  • UXPA Boston
  • UXPA International
  • IA Summit
  • GreenIO NYC
  • Healthcare Experience Design (HXD)

International & Online

  • SustainableUX (Global / Founder)
  • Interaction (Toronto)
  • EuroIA (Edinburgh)
  • IA Summit (Vancouver)
  • UX Scotland (Edinburgh)
  • UX in the City (Oxford)
SXSW Interactive • Verified panel feedback

“James was great and super relevant topic. Perhaps my favourite panel of the conference. You just need bigger rooms!”

Evaluation from SXSW panel: Need for speed: optimising the user experience (Audience of ~200)
Content:4.5 / 5
Speaker:5.0 / 5
Relevance:5.0 / 5