UX Design and Privacy
By: Bilge Tekin
Tags: Privacy, Data, Privacy Design, UX Design, Gdpr

UX Design and Privacy

Photo by Dan Nelson on Unsplash

User Design, or UX design, has become more and more important in recent years. It not only allows for the user to understand and feel comfortable in an app, website or digital solution, but it can also be a competitive advantage helping businesses differentiate each other from the competition.

A crucial part of today’s digital era is data. It helps businesses understand better and get to know their customers, but it also allows customers to get more personalised ads, products, and services.

Using data correctly can be a massive game-changer for any business. However, obtaining this data and putting it to good use can be a huge privacy issue. You want to make sure that your customer knows what kind of data you are collecting and how will you be using it.

Since the 1990s, canadian Dr Ann Cavoukian, established a framework that had the user’s privacy at the forefront. It was called ‘Privacy by Design’, and it provided seven basic principles:

Those principles are:

Proactive not reactive; Preventative not remedial

2. Privacy as the default setting

3. Privacy embedded into the design

4. Full functionality — positive-sum, not zero-sum

5. Ent-to-End security — Full lifecycle protection

6. Visibility and transparency — keep it open

7. Respect for user privacy — keep it user-centric

The framework was introduced in 2018 as part of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a piece of legislation that concerns itself with the management of personal data.

Privacy by Design and the GDPR say that privacy should be built into any design by default. This is a very true statement due to many reasons. Sure, economic and legal reasons have critical importance of why you should care about privacy — hefty fines if you fail to follow suit. But, there is also the company’s image and customer loyalty and trust at stake.

And now, the really important question: how can you design keeping the user’s privacy in mind?

How much data do you need?

Before starting your design, you need to question how much data you need to collect from your user. Although humans are collectors by nature, and we would love to know everything about our customer, we need to be realistic in the amount of data that we will use.

The less data we ask but, the better use we give to it, the more trust the user will have. Additionally, it will save you from long privacy and data handling declarations that can clutter your site and make your user feel bombarded by information.

The less, the better, as long as it has been adequately thought out. Remember that sign-up rates tend to be higher the less information is asked on the first form. And don’t worry if you later realise you will need more details of the user; you can then ask for opt-in questionnaires.

Where is your Privacy Officer?

Before you start your design, you should get your privacy officer involved so you can take privacy into account from the first sketch rather than having to fix mistakes on a plan or project that already went live.

What about your Cookie Banner?

We all come across cookie banners daily. Most of you will probably have realised that most are obnoxious and not very clear or concise.

When designing and writing your cookie banner, you should put as much effort as you do into the rest of your design; after all, it will be the first element that a customer will interact with when they get to your site.

Make it clear and concise by clearly stating what you need from that user and what his options are is paramount. Reducing the amount you need to get from the users will help the banner be smaller.

Additionally, please pay close attention to the look of it and the placement. You want it to not look like something out of place. And make it so that you are not showing the cookie banner to the same user every time they log into your website.

How can the user modify privacy settings and obtain their data?

It’s essential to provide a place on your site so the user can see their privacy settings and manage them according to their wishes.

And depending on the regulations in your country, you will need to make sure you can provide all their data if they ask for it.

All of this should be done by the user without being super complicated or hard to access. This will help customers feel like they can trust your site and build significant loyalty with your company.

How do you mask the data?

More and more websites are using pseudonymisation to mask the personal information of the users.

This allows you to collect data and protect the privacy of your users. It would also be a good idea to let your user know that you are doing this so they can feel protected.

What do you do with inactive user’s data?

Another critical thing to keep into account is the need to delete the data you no longer use. This will save you storage and collection costs as well as letting your customers feel safe that once they are gone for good, their data won’t be misused or missed places.

How can you be more transparent and clear?

Overall when it comes to privacy and user’s data, what’s crucial is to be open, transparent and straightforward with them. You want your user to understand what data they are providing, how are you using it, which third parties will have access to their data. How are you storing it and, most importantly, how all the data they are giving to you will benefit their overall experience.

Checking all of these will help you have a better relationship with your user. What’s important is to understand the value that collecting data has for you but also for your business. In the times that we are living in, where people are bombarded by information, ads, and new brands are being released daily it’s essential to know your customer accurately. Being able to deliver exactly what they are looking for, even if they don’t yet know it.

Data helps you do this, but at the same time, you need to be careful with the information. Data protection works both ways, helping you protect your own data, safeguarding you from hacks and legally protecting you, as well as your user.

Things like what happened to Google not long ago that made them pay a whopping $57 millions by failing to inform their consumers about their data collection are a great way to understand that keeping data safe will help your business and customers.

What’s essential is to realise that keeping the user’s privacy through a design framework is possible and that following some simple principles and guidance can considerably impact your business.

Better to start by making these changes early on in the development of the project instead of waiting for a problem to happen to make the necessary adjustments, which will cost both time and money.

Maintaining the human factor alive in design, understanding what even you as a designer and as a user would like to see and know from the site you are visiting and how you would like to be treated is key to protecting privacy.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/technology/google-europe-gdpr-fine.html