World Usability Day (WUD), or Make Things Easier Day is annually observed across the globe on the 2nd Thursday of November to promote the principles of usability, accessibility, and user experience in design.
- WUD 2024 falls on 14 November 2024.
- WUD 2023 was observed on 9 November 2023 and WUD 2025 will be observed on 13 November 2024.
Theme:
The 2024 theme of WUD is, “Designing for a Better World”.
- The theme focused on creating accessible spaces, eco-friendly packaging, inclusive technology, designing energy-efficient and eco-friendly buildings.
Background:
i.World Usability Day was established in 2004 by the Usability Professionals Association (UPA).
- The day was established to highlight the significance of designing products and services that are user-friendly, efficient, secure, and enjoyable to interact with.
ii.The first WUD was observed on 10 November 2005.
World Usability Initiative (WUI):
i.WUI is designed to be self-sustaining initiative.
ii.WUI will align with the United Nations’ (UN)’s efforts, particularly supporting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030
iii.Since 2005, WUD has relied on a model where local organizers secure local funding to support infrastructure and related projects.
Design Challenge (DC):
i.DC supports the WUI goal of improving understanding of how a focus on users and usage leads to improved designs.
- WUI aims to inform policy at the highest international levels.
ii.For 2024, the WUI DC called on the design community to share evidence of the specific impacts of insights from user research and evaluation on detailed design decisions
Prizes and Recognition:
i.The WUI DC is in collaboration with the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) International (HCII) conference, sponsors 3 awards:
Winners:
Gold: Phuong Lien (Vietnam) won USD 1250
Silver: Sahar Kourangbeheshti(Iran) won USD 1000
Bronze: Rishika Sood(India) won USD 750
About User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA):
UPA, was established in 1991, now known as the User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) since 2012.
President & Director of Marketing & Communications– Sara Mastro
