Timeline
August 2022 (4 weeks)
My Role
UI & UX Designer
Visual Designer
Interaction Designer
THE PROBLEM
People don't know how to reclaim their digital privacy.
Companies are monetizing and manipulating our personal lives. Governments use surveillance to silence dissidents and keep citizens compliant. Is there a better way to learn about and reclaim our digital privacy?
SECONDARY RESEARCH
The majority of Americans are concerned about how much data is collected by companies (79%) and the government (64%).
To gauge the scale of this problem, I conducted secondary research on how Americans feel about data privacy. According to this study by Pew Research Center, most Americans are uncomfortable with the current state of digital privacy.
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(These findings come from a survey of 4,272 U.S. adults conducted on Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel between June 3 and 17, 2019.)
USER INTERVIEWS + EMPATHY MAPPING
My interviewees ranged from apathy to resignation.
I conducted user interviews to dive deeper and organized the insights with an affinity map. I found that my users could be split into two segments based on whether they already care about the issue of data privacy.
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The majority of my interviewees didn't care or think about data privacy in their day-to-day lives. I distilled these users into the following persona, "Diana," who is blissfully unaware of the threats to her privacy.
The following empathy map captures how:
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Diana doesn't care about privacy because she doesn't feel threatened by corporate or state surveillance.
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She feels satisfied with her favorite apps and believes the risks of data tracking are outweighed by the benefits of personalized online experiences.
In contrast, some users have recently become aware of the importance of data privacy and the threats posed by data-hungry companies. I distilled these users into the following persona, "Bruce," who is cursed with the knowledge that his personal life is under constant scrutiny.
The following empathy map captures how:
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Bruce feels helpless and uncertain how to protect his personal data.
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He is frustrated that tracking is the new normal, and he also feels isolated because no one around him seems to care.
THE MAIN INSIGHT
There are 5 sequential hurdles to reclaiming digital privacy.
I realized that Diana and Bruce are really at two different phases on the same journey to reclaiming digital privacy. In order to visualize the current state of users' privacy journeys, I synthesized their habits and pain points into the Experience Map below.
Notice the five hurdles at which users revert to the "Blissful Ignorance" phase highlighted in RED:
In summary, the 5 sequential hurdles to reclaiming privacy are:
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1. By default, users don't care about data privacy because they do not perceive any imminent threats.
2. When made aware of the threat, users feel there is nothing they can do to fight back.
3. Then, when made aware of privacy-friendly alternatives as a solution to the threat, users feel overwhelmed by the research required to find the right alternatives.
4. Then, when given curated solutions, users feel unmotivated to act.
5. Finally, when they commit to taking action, users feel alone when they fail to convince friends and family to take control of their privacy too.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
The competition fails to address all five hurdles.
I then performed competitive analysis to evaluate how existing online resources address the five hurdles in the privacy journey. I discovered that competitors address only one or two of the five hurdles at a time:
Pro: Effectively details threats to privacy and fuels advocacy
Con: Doesn’t help users easily switch to alternatives.
Pro: Compiles tons of privacy-friendly alternatives.
Con: Doesn’t motivate users to take action unless they are already convinced.
Pro: Walks through threats to privacy as well as practical alternatives.
Con: Doesn’t keep users accountable to actually take action.
THE SOLUTION
A game that makes reclaiming your privacy FUN!
My research indicated that a game could help users overcome all 5 hurdles to privacy in an engaging way.
1. USERS DON'T CARE
→ Use fun animations to convey the threat.
2. USERS FEEL THERE'S NOTHING THEY CAN DO
→ Walk players through solutions step-by-step.
3. USERS FEEL OVERWHELMED BY RESEARCH
→ Feature curated solutions organized by impact and ease of implementation.
4. USERS FEEL UNMOTIVATED TO SWITCH
→ Use game elements to reward learning and taking action to protect data, and to punish inaction (while still being fun).
5. USERS FEEL ALONE
→ Add a social element to bring others along.
My idea: "Duolingo meets tower defense."
DESIGN ITERATION
Sketches to wireframes to high fidelity mockups
I iterated designs to directly address the first 4 hurdles.
Hurdle 1: Users don't care. → Use fun animations to convey the threat.
To fight apathy, I created a cute representation of data for users to become emotionally attached to: "bytes," named after the real-life unit of digital information.
I used Figma components and variants to create a modular design.
I then designed UFOs themed after the biggest names in data collection as enemies who would try to abduct these bytes.
When the user first opens the game, an introduction conveys both the game's premise and the real-world threat.
Hurdle 2: Users feel there's nothing they can do. → Introduce privacy-friendly alternatives.
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Hurdle 3: Users feel overwhelmed by research. → Curate and organize solutions by impact.​
After the user is introduced to the threat, they are presented with the game's objective: complete lessons on privacy to build towers to defend your bytes.
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The game map directly addresses Hurdles 2 and 3 with:​​
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Quadrants representing different areas of digital privacy.
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Lessons in each quadrant that walk users through practical solutions.
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Three levels of difficulty so that users can choose how much effort they want to invest in their real life protection.
Hurdle 4: Users feel unmotivated. → Use game elements to reward learning and application.
To encourage users to take action to defend their privacy in real life, I devised a "Blueprint-Build" mechanism.
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When users complete the Learning portion of a lesson, they unlock a tower's BLUEPRINT (which does not prevent attacks).
The user can BUILD the functional tower only when they verify that they followed through with the Application portion.
Completing higher-level lessons unlocks stronger towers.
USER TESTING
User tests yielded 3 major improvements
For 2 weeks, I continuously iterated designs based on user feedback. The tests yielded 3 major improvements:
1. Replaced 3rd-party videos with 100% original animations.
BEFORE: Users felt videos broke the flow of the lesson. They also felt tempted to skip or just passively listen to them.
AFTER: All-new animations with visually striking images made the content much more memorable to users, while also promoting more seamless flow.
2. Used visual storytelling to reduce text by 30%.
BEFORE: Because users would skip walls of text, they would miss key information and later be confused by some mechanics.
AFTER: New designs “show, not tell.”
3. Replaced text-heavy slides with interactive pop quizzes.
BEFORE: More walls of text.​
AFTER: Pop quizzes reinforce learning and add variety.
THE FINAL PRODUCT
Well, what are you waiting for? Give the game a shot!
For the scope of this project, I built a full tutorial and the first 2 lessons of the game as a minimum viable product.
CONCLUSION & REFLECTIONS
Users wanted MORE!
Many of my users started out totally apathetic to the topic of data privacy. But when they played through the game, they became attached to the “bytes” and finished every lesson with, “I didn’t know that!”
By the end, 100% of test users expressed that they want to keep playing to learn more and take action in their own lives.
This validated my hypothesis that gamifying the privacy journey can increase engagement and motivate learning.
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I’m extremely pleased with how this project turned out! A few of my takeaways:
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Keep an open dialogue with users. Whenever a user interacted with an element in an unexpected way (eg. skipping the video or skipping instructions), I enjoyed probing deeper into the behavior to understand how the design could better meet their needs.
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Say more with less. A consistent critique of early drafts was that there was too much text (where's the fun in READING a game??). I had to experiment with communicating the same information visually. This lesson will definitely help me in future design projects!
If I had more time, I would build out the Achievements and Social features of the game. Currently, the prototype meets most of the needs of both personas. But a key need for Bruce ("Cursed With Knowledge") is overcoming the last hurdle: feeling alone in the journey. An Achievements board and Social features like sharing progress or collaborating on lessons with other players could help address that need.
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I hope to continue building out Protect Your Bytes with more lessons and features in my spare time! I'm grateful to my test users and I hope this project can evolve to make a real impact.
