Designing Human-Centric Interfaces for the Digital Product Passport in Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

The mandatory implementation of the Digital Product Passport (DPP) under the EU Battery Regulation (EU 2023/1542) requires Economic Operators to exchange comprehensive lifecycle data in order to support transparency and circularity across complex value chains. Although current standardization efforts provide detailed specifications for semantic and technical interoperability and define machine-readable formats for data exchange, the design of the human-facing interaction layer remains insufficiently addressed. As a result, users with different levels of technical familiarity and varying operational objectives must work with highly technical information, although a single interface concept may not equally support the needs of all stakeholder groups.This paper proposes a human-centered design framework for DPP interfaces that translates abstract API outputs into user-specific and actionable information. The approach examines the information needs and cognitive constraints of different user roles within the DPP ecosystem, with particular consideration of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where personnel often lack specialized software engineering expertise but are still required to make operationally relevant decisions based on technically structured product and lifecycle data. The paper outlines how role-based adaptation, progressive disclosure, and targeted visualization strategies can help reduce information density, lower cognitive load, and decrease the risk of misinterpretation. In addition, a prototype implemented as a browser-based application is presented, and its design decisions are discussed in relation to established principles from Human-Computer Interaction and Cognitive Load Theory.

Keywords: Digital Product Passport, Human-computer Interaction (HCI), Human-centred Design, Battery Regulation, Role-based Interface Design

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007782