events

In September 2023, we were able to participate in Feira, the Global Gathering, a festival for digital rights defenders, convened by Team Community. The Feira was a three day social and networking festival hosted in Estoril, Portugal on September 15 - 17, 2023. The event, designed, modeled and named for the concept of a community market, was created to provide digital rights defenders with a space to connect with others in the digital rights community for informal meetups, discussions, and joy — particularly as this was the first time gathering in-person for most participants since before the start of the COVID19 pandemic.

At COSCUP 2023, we held a workshop "The Design We Open - Network Disruption Hackathon" (The Design We Open Workshop - 網路中斷黑客松), a workshop focused on how we, as designers and configurers of technology for human rights needs can better understand Taiwanese citizens' understanding and experiences of internet shutdowns, and what is important in a partial or full internet shutdown.

At DWeb Camp 2023, we organized the event's first Design Track. This is a reflection on the valuable lessons we learned and our ongoing dedication to making the decentralized web more user-friendly, inclusive, and socially conscious in our future endeavors.

The Feira @ the Global Gathering is a three day social and networking festival for digital rights defenders, hosted in an outdoor space in Estoril, Portugal on September 15, 16 and 17, 2023. Join Jamie Tomasello and Eriol Fox from the Superbloom team, Matt Stempeck from Civic Tech Field Guide and Caroline Sinders from Convocation there!

With support from the Open Technology Fund Secure Usability and Accessibility Lab, UX Designers, User Researchers, Digital Security Trainers and OSS tool builders gathered at RightsCon 2023 for the Human Rights Centered Design convening. We held critical discussions about the challenges and opportunities that sharing user insights could bring to how OSS tools for human rights needs are built in ways that are more context sensitive and specific, and share these insights here

​​The world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age is back. After three years online, the 12th edition of RightsCon is both live in San José, Costa Rica, and online via the RightsCon platform from Monday, June 5 to Thursday, June 8 2023. Will you join us there?

Superbloom will be hosting five sessions at the Mozilla Festival (Monday, March 20 - Friday, March 24 2023). If you’ll be there, we’d love to see you, meet you and get to know you. Come join us! Want to learn how to design a Tech Policy playbook? Are you interested in global tech transparency? Would you like to find out how shadow data affects you? Do you want to understand design’s impact on encrypted messaging? Are you looking for how to center human rights in usability? Join us and 1000s of others at MozFest 2023! This year’s event will be held in person in Amsterdam and online and the Superbloom team will be participating in five of the 360+ sessions. Intrigued? Read more in our post.

Would you like to hear how the move from deceptive design to trusted patterns is critical to our shared future? Would you like to learn more about how to make encrypted apps more inclusive and accessible? Do you need on the spot design and UX aid and advice to improve your tools? Simply Secure team members will be joining six sessions during Rightscon 2022: June 6-10. We’d love to see you, learn about your work, and collaborate. Come join us! .

Are you stuck on how to build or communicate a feature? Not sure how to get user feedback? Want to learn more about how the consent user experience has changed? Are you eager to find out how to navigate design choices while prioritizing human rights? Is digital infrastructure funding a topic you are keen to hear more about? Want to dive deep into data colonialism? We have some answers.

As part of 2021’s virtual Mozilla Festival, our team designed an online zine-making workshop to better simulate an in-person experience and teach new designer skills. Learn how you can design a workshop of your own.

Over the next 2 weeks, Simply Secure will be hosting five sessions at the first virtual Mozilla Festival. If you’ll be there, we’d love to see you, learn about your work, and collaborate. Come join us!

Shared learnings from the 2020 Mozilla Fellows Summit, which pivoted to a virtual convening in 10 days.

In 2019, Simply Secure piloted a residency model. Learn more about why and the fellows work.

Designers are urgently needed to help build products and services people trust. Here’s how design professionals are starting to embrace security.

As you know, building great software depends on a deep knowledge of users. If you’re working on a project targeted at people who operate in high-risk situations, such as activists and journalists, it can be hard to get the quality insight you need to …

On Monday I had the pleasure of speaking at a Workshop on Cryptographic Agility and Interoperability held at the National Academies by the Forum on Cyber Resilience. The assembled group of academics, policy-makers, and practitioners touched on a …

For the past two years John Maeda (whose previous roles include Professor at the MIT Media Lab and President of the Rhode Island School of Design) has issued a Design In Tech Report. This influential analysis, which Maeda presents at SXSW and has …

I really enjoyed my time at the Internet Freedom Festival in Valencia, Spain. I was inspired and humbled to meet so many talented people as part of a global event about internet freedom. From powerful conversations about privilege to UX design jam …

It’s always great to attend security and privacy conferences in person. But in cases where you have to miss an event, online videos of the talks can be a great way to stay current with the ongoing conversation. Art, Design, and The Future of Privacy …

Last week I went to the O’Reilly Design Conference and enjoyed learning about emerging UX trends. The conference was full of high-quality presentations on UX practice. Here are three of my favorite talks. The Many Minds of the Maker Knight-Mozilla …

Last week Gus and I gave a talk at Shmoocon in DC. The focus was on helping technologists who don’t have experience in human-centered design processes conduct basic research to improve their existing open-source tools. We covered four basic steps …

2015 was our first full year in operation, and we’ve come a long way! Looking back at the past twelve months, here are some resources that we’ve found to be particularly useful (or entertaining). Let us know your favorites on Twitter! Ame’s picks …

Last week Simply Secure hosted a pilot workshop called Underexposed. A small group came together in San Francisco to: Share successes and challenges in secure user experiences. Describe processes and wishes for successful collaboration between …

This week we’ve been busy in New York City meeting with our advisors and co-hosting Art, Design, and the Future of Privacy. It was gratifying to see so many people turn out to discuss creative ways of approaching an issue that is dear to our hearts, …

We’re headed to NYC next week for our annual Advisors’ Meeting. While we’re there we’re thrilled to be partnering with Dis Magazine to host Art, Design, and the Future of Privacy. If you’re in the area, please join us; the event is free and open to …

Last week I went to the SOUPS conference in Ottawa. As a first-time attendee, it was a good opportunity to connect with some members of the academic usable-security community. One of the highlights was keynote speaker Valerie Steeves. Steeves, …

Thank you to everyone contributing to the Simply Secure Slack channel. If you’re interested in joining, email [email protected] for an invitation. I’m especially eager to get more UX people in privacy and security involved, so spread the word. …

I really enjoyed being part of the emerging-work track, HotPETS, at the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium earlier this month. From meeting lots of great people to getting face-time with the Simply Secure team, Philadelphia was fun. Scout and I …