Overview
My Role: Product Designer
Led the end-to-end design of the platform's discovery and privacy action features.
Timeline
7 months (UX research to interface design)
Tools & Methods
Figma, Applied Research, Prototyping
Collaborations
Norman Sadeh (Product Lead at CyLab)
City of Long Beach
Backend and frontend engineers
Background
Smart cities offer seamless convenience—improved security, quality of life, mobility, to name a few, behind the innovation lies a pressing question: Who's collecting your data, and why?
Challenge: Ambiguity and resignation
While research shows that people care about their privacy, they feel they have little awareness of - let alone control over - the collection and use of their data. This leads to a sense of resignation, where people feel powerless.
Solution Overview
Mobile assistant for discovering, understanding, and managing their data privacy in IoT devices
Proactive Alerts (Past)
Notify users of nearby IoT devices and their data practices in simple language.
Resource Discovery
Access historical and real-time data collection details to help in decision-making.
One-Click Actions
Execute privacy choices aligned with GDPR or CCPA, depending on the region of deployment.
Automated Privacy (Future)
Learn user preferences using Machine Learning and automate actions (long-term vision).
Impact
Reduced privacy action execution time by 70%.
Fostered trust in smart city ecosystems through transparency and agency
Design Challenge 1
Positive Behavior Change
I was trying to tackle a behavior or resignation, making the users feel like they can exercise meaningful control over their data, and hence, take action.
Solution
Effectively timed nudges
Help users comprehend the volume of data being processed to develop a sense of urgency
Design Challenge 2
Cognitive Load
The platform features 12 data types, with varying select and grouped states. Facilitating recognition over recall in the mobile screen real estate was one of the biggest challenges.
Solution
Aggregated states and heat maps were introduced to show data collection density at different zoom levels
Combining the legend with a filter helped optimize screen real estate
Reflections and Learnings
Applied Research
Bridged gaps between citizen perceptions and expert-researched needs.
Collaboration
Refined interdisciplinary collaboration skills to align technical feasibility with user goals with early and frequent feedback
Metaphors & Usability
Leveraged familiar concepts like Google Maps and Privacy Dashboards to reduce learning curves.
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