Left to right: Steph Duits, senior content designer, Linda Butterfield, senior user researcher and Tom Mannix-Rough, senior interaction designer at the National Air Quality Conference in London
Not every user centred design (UCD) team gets to meet their users outside user research interviews. But on 4 November 2025, the air quality UCD team (in the photo) went to London to do just that. Conference style.
Weirdly enough, it was the day before the most air-polluted night of the year: Bonfire Night.
Like every good UCD team, we met lots of our users in user research interviews. But we wanted to know what they did and talked about in a more natural setting.
What’s important to them? Do they even care about Defra and the data we provide? Would meeting them in real life change everything?
One thing we did know: air quality - and how important good air quality is – had recently been in the news.
What air quality has to do with Defra
Air quality is the largest environmental health risk in the UK. It shortens lives and contributes to chronic illness. Defra’s remit is outdoor air quality, but exposure occurs in all environments.
The air quality team at Defra is designing 2 air quality services – one for users to check air quality and one for users to get air pollution data.
Basic versions of both these services are already live, but we need to improve them. We were in London to meet some of our users and find out how.
We all need clean air
“It’s a womb to tomb issue”- Nick Smith from the Clean Air Fund, speaking about how air quality affects human health.
Air pollution is a major cause of heart disease – and it disproportionately affects homeless, low-income and disadvantaged people.
“People need clean air” said Nick. “To get it, they need clear data.”
Hard-hitting. We were in the right place. Our users were telling us what they needed the most.
Accessible, actionable data.
Data drives action
As we listened to the speakers, their enthusiasm for air pollution data spilled into the room. Data that’s accurate, transparent, consistent and reliable. And available to everyone.
Our jobs were starting to feel extremely important.
Local authority demand for data
One of our biggest user groups are people who work in local authorities. Miraculously, one of the morning sessions was a panel discussion that included local authority staff.
They spoke about the burden of statutory (legal) obligations and having to submit annual air status reports. Not easy to do without clear, reliable data.
Local authorities can make a huge difference to how air pollution is managed locally. And make a massive difference to people’s health.
Listening to the panellists talk so passionately reminded us how important our work is. It’s easy to lose sense of this when you're buried in detail at your desk.
Solving the school run
One of our favourite talks was from Nicola Pastore, ‘Solving the school run’.
Nicola isn’t a data scientist or a local authority employee. Just a very engaged citizen – and one of our users.
Nicola spoke about her vision for every child to have a safe, green and clean school run.
High levels of traffic and congestion on the way to school expose children to 5 times more air pollution than at any other time. And it affects everyone in the area, whether you’re walking your dog or waiting for the bus.
Nicola’s talk really brought the needs of our users to life. Our data needs to be easily accessible to users like Nicola, not just data professionals.
Nicola not only needed our data. She needed our data to be clear and engaging enough to drive action and change policy.
How meeting our users in person did change everything
We left the conference with renewed enthusiasm and a much clearer idea of the problems we needed to solve for users.
They need:
- data that’s accurate, transparent and reliable
- a simple message - for better air quality literacy and more local community engagement
The people we met and the presenters who spoke are passionate about air quality. They care about making air pollution data accessible.
Data drives action. Data makes pollution visible - for health, communities and sustainability.
Our job is to put the power and control back in our users’ hands, so they can get the air pollution data they need, when they need it.
Why you should meet your users: our biggest learning
Meeting users outside user research interviews has made our jobs clearer and more rewarding. Now, we’re designing for users with real life examples of what they need to reach their goals.
Our users are passionate about better air quality for everyone.
And at Defra, so are we.
If you get the chance to meet your users in real life… say yes! You’ll feel inspired.
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