In March 2023, Superbloom attended FOSS Backstage conference in Berlin with support from Open Technology Fund. In this blog, we reflect on a design workshop we hosted for non-designers, “Making Design More Open” and share our key learnings and takeaways.

Technologies like Awala bridge digital divides and provide opportunities for people to connect safely, even when traditional infrastructure and politics might block their access. As part of the OTF Usability Lab, we performed a heuristic review of Awala and a review of the developer experience. Here we highlight the Developer Experience (DX), where we provided recommendations to make it easier for third-party developers to adopt the technology and suitable use cases.

With support from Internews, our team helped improve a VPN that helps human rights defenders and journalists access the internet safely. We implemented a unique usability testing process that protects user privacy and overcomes typical remote testing challenges.

Here's the difference between the current "design for trust" discourse and how trust actually works.

Why informed consent helps us design better technology – and why it's not enough.

A roundup of some of the interesting research presented at SOUPS 2019.