Prifina

All your data, in one place

Own your data, and make smarter use out of it!

Client: Prifina
Duration: 3 weeks
Tools: Figma, Photoshop
Platform: Mobile (iOS)
Team: Parima Sahbai, Jin Hong Jung, Angelica Farber
Role: Research, wireframing, prototyping

Background

Prifina is a software company that aims to privatize and give users control of their data. Here's how it works:

For Users:

New California and European laws give users the ability to "own" their data and therefore request companies to pull it down, and/or have users request their copy of what these websites know about them. Here's where Prifina wants to step in. Prifina wants to store all of your data in a "private cloud". This means that neither Prifina, nor anyone but you have ready access to these data points.


Let's say Facebook thinks you like cats, and Twitter knows you have a tendency to shop online at 3 AM. Prifina wants to build a more accurate picture of you by putting the Facebook and Twitter data in once private place so you only see catfood ads if you'd like, and at 3 AM when you tend to shop. This model helps create richer applications that more carefully are curated to the user.


For Developers

What's more scary than a data leak lawsuit due to negligence because of a bug you never caught? Handling user data is scary and sensitive. By using Prifina, developers can be relieved of this responsiblity because their applications run on top of users private clouds. This means developers will never see user data directly and do not have to handle it.

The Problem

Prifina is a really complicated concept, the company has mainly focused on how to appeal to developers and entice them into developing Prifina specific applications that takes advantage of multiple data streams for richer applications, but what about the consumer side? How do we appeal to the masses and develop Prifina as a brand?

Research

survey

For our research, we wanted to first get a read on how people felt about privacy. We sent out a survey to 19 people and were able to get the following insights:

Some highlights include:

  • "I already feel defeated that a lot of companies already have my information..."
  • "I find targeted ads very disturbing. It feels strange that there is a digital identity that I have limited control over and is utterly sellable."
  • "I think I'm not super concerned because I don't understand what use my data is for anything other than targeting ads and content to me. I'm theoretically concerned about data being used for evil if I were a rebel in a fascist state."


    • User Interviews

    We interviewed 9 individuals to get a sense of how much they understand data, and how they currently use technology in their daily lives with questions like:

  • Tell me about application/type of applications you use most often.
  • What does data mean to you?
  • What are some challenges in your daily life and how could technology help make those challenges easier?
  • Tell me about an app that you wish existed.

    • Here's a snapshot of some of our affinity mapping as a result

    User Personas

    Bonnie

    Bonnie loves tracking her fitness and sharing her stats on social media like her (not so) secret indulgence — Facebook games and surveys! Bonnie has struggled with allergies most of her life. She’s about to head out for a run. She needs to check the weather, her route, and the local allergy forecast.


    View details


    Devon

    After moving to the bay area for his job 8 years ago, Devon realized the fragility of his privacy especially with his growing number of scattered online personal data. Besides being an advocate for humane tech he likes to trade stocks in his free time. He needs to keep his data in one place, and keep it together in one place.

    View details

    Planning

    There was multiple approaches we could take this project. How do we make Prifina a brand? How do we make it digestible to the average joe?

    Wireframing

    Wireframing as a group was an interesting challenge. We found that by deciding on a common feel or look, we were able to unify and channel our ideas into high-fidelity wires.

    Some of our biggest challenges during this phase, and after our presenting our solution to two user testers was that it was still unclear what the application was about. While all tasks such as "Add a widget" were handled successfully, the interface was not able to fully tell the story of Prifina to the user. This story, is something that would be a part of a future phase of trying to bring Prifina to the average Joe.

    Mockup