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SafeBook
Timeline
Autumn 2025
(10 weeks)
My Role
UX Design
Skills
User Research
User-Centered Design
Iterative Design
Rapid Prototyping
With
Lina (Jiayu) Wang
Ruohan Li
My Impact
From concept to completion, as a UX Designer, I designed and created a interactive web prototype and a mobile prototype (through Bolt) based on exploratory research I conducted and data gathered from user tests of previous iterations.
This project was created as part of the UW HCDE MS program.
Redesigning a privacy-oriented travel booking process.
Overview
Travelers are anxious about invasive surveillance in their lodgings and are uncertain about time-efficient safety measures.
Highlights
Seamless integration into the existing booking experience.
Safety Risk Levels
No Risk
Low Risk
High Risk
Tags & Filters for Visibility
Privacy Inspection Reports
Counterpart Mobile App
For on-the-go convenience.
Created in 3 hours with an AI-powered builder.
Context
Improvements in image capturing technology make small cameras difficult to detect by the naked-eye. As these technologies become more accessible, there has been a rise in privacy violations where individual's likeness is captured without consent, particularly in private spaces such as restroom stalls, changing rooms, and travel stays.
As cameras become more discrete, individuals experience anxiety about their privacy and digital image.
User Research
Focusing on invasive image capturing, we explored areas where we could…
protect user consent and data privacy.
The Breakdown
Lit Review
21+ news reports and academic journals
Surveys
12+ responses
Ethnographic Studies
4+ first-hand accounts
User Interviews
6 semi-structured
Insights
Synthesis
To better understand our target users and familiarize ourselves with current digital surveilance technologies we used 4 complementary methods:
Surveillance Reality
Different locations' privacy laws vary making travelers uncertain about their rights.
Surveillance alters behavior, with widespread surveillance fosters "passive trust in invisibility", where individual's assume privacy when no evidence of monitoring is visible
Privacy Expectations
Surveillance in highly public spaces (e.g. lobbies, stores, etc.) are accepted as security measures.
Surveillance in private spaces are perceived as invasive (e.g. locker rooms, bedrooms, closets)
Individuals perceive audio surveillance in hybrid (public/private) spaces negatively.
User Preferences
Travelers book stays based on Convenience, Cleanliness, Crowd-proofing, and Consensus.
Travelers and travel properties build trust through online feedback and visible upkeep over surveillance devices.
Users prefer low-effort, time-efficient solutions that are easily integrate into their existing travel habits.
All of which helped us determine our design question…
How might we
help travelers feel confident in their privacy throughout the travel process (before, during, after their stay) to empower them to act decisively if their privacy is violated?
Key Stakeholders
Travelers
Hosts
Booking Platforms
Target Personas
Some quotes from our user interviews:
Designs & Iterations
Exploring different possibilities.
"How might we" exploration
We began by identifying 5 different question's to explore from our gathered insights.
Rapid sketching
I created quick exploratory sketches for the most feasible ideas from the previous steps. The sketches were then sorted by strength, weaknesses, and feasibility.
Testing with Low-Fidelity Prototype.
I constructed a low-fidelity black-and-white prototype to gauge how users would naturally interact with the product.
Design. And Design Again.
01
Refined Verification Certificate
Repositioned verification status for increased visibility and easy access
02
Visual Affirmations
Reduced visual noise while reducing user anxiety through distinct safety affirmations.
03
Integrated Context
Repositioned verification status for increased visibility and easy access
Privacy "Grading" Scores
->
to communicate differences in properties
3-Level Safety Score
shifting focus from numerical scores to transparently communicate safety validation
Specifications
Creating a design system
based on 3 principles
Transparent and cohesive signaling
Visual Accessibility (WCAG 2.1)
Effortless Interpretation
Mapping Information Architecture
to better understand how safety could be incorporated without proactive action on the user.
Check Out the Detailed Interaction Map ⬇️
User Flow
Our Flow
See more specification details in the writeup!
Final Design
Preserving user's existing flows.
through an integrated web browser extension that appears on their preferred booking site.
Mobile Prototype
Addressing user preferences for mobile applications, featuring the same safety verification details for ease of use while traveling.
Created through vibe-coding with an AI-powered builder.
Acknowledgements
Academic Support
Thanks to the University of Washington HCDE program for providing the resources, framework, and intellectual environment that made this project possible.
Research Participants and Peers
I am deeply thankful to the participants who generously shared their time, experiences, and perspectives during our user research and usability testing phases. Your insights were invaluable in shaping our direction and outcomes. I would also like to extend my thanks to my peers in the HCDE program for their genuine feedback, collaborative spirit, and constructive critique throughout the design process.
Instruction and Mentorship
A special thanks to instructors, Daniela Kim and Lubna Razaq, whose guidance, encouragement, and expertise helped us navigate the complexities of designing for data privacy and surveillance. Through your mentorship I was able to develop my research and design skills to bring this project to fruition.