Framing Privacy: Smooth, Supportive, and Empowering Design Heuristics

Episode Summary

In this episode of Terms of Service, host Mary Camacho speaks with Molly Willson and Eriol Fox from Superbloom, a nonprofit design and technology studio working at the intersection of open-source software, privacy, and human rights. Together, they unpack the Privacy Experience Heuristics—a framework designed to help teams build more intuitive, trust-centered experiences around privacy.

They explore why legal compliance isn’t enough, how tools like password managers and secure messaging apps can feel intimidating or unsafe, and why it’s crucial to center marginalized users in privacy and security design. From “personas non grata” to designing for digital dignity, this conversation explores how we can bridge the gap between secure systems and the real people who need them most.

Key Takeaways

• Privacy isn’t just technical—it’s emotional and relational. Smooth, supportive, and empowering experiences help users trust and engage with privacy-respecting tools.
• The Privacy Experience Heuristics were created to guide open-source and nonprofit teams in building better UX for privacy without requiring specialized expertise.
• Designers have a critical role in shaping security culture and making privacy feel accessible, not punitive.
• Marginalized communities often bear the brunt of poor defaults and unsafe assumptions. Designing with their safety in mind improves tools for everyone.
• Security isn’t one-size-fits-all. Empowerment means giving users choices without overwhelming them with complexity.

Topics Covered / Timestamped Sections

• 03:30 – How Molly and Eriol came to focus on privacy-centered design
• 08:56 – Why compliance frameworks (like GDPR) don’t ensure a good user experience.
• 10:22 – Introducing the Privacy Experience Heuristics: smooth, supportive, empowering.
• 16:08 – The difference between supportive and empowering.
• 21:00 – Human-centered design doesn't start and end with the users.
• 23:27 – Designing for safety: why privacy must serve people on the margins.
• 27:38 – Should people have to worry about privacy?
• 31:30 – Personas Non Grata: preparing for misuse and unexpected users.
• 36:21 – Real world examples where privacy or security is being built into design.
• 43:38 –Why can't you split the world into 'people who need privacy' and 'people who don’t?
• 44:30 – WhatsApp, Signal and the difference between them. 
• 56:00 – Hope for the future: reframing privacy as a shared cultural value

Guest Bio and Links

Molly Willson – Molly has been at Superbloom since 2018, where she leads design and research projects around a variety of open-source and public interest technology. She has worked with teams on projects around privacy, security, transparency, open data, and internet governance, and has also done research projects together with funders and communities working in these areas. She also leads Superbloom's coaching program, helping pair experts with teams for high-impact design, community, and fundraising mentoring. Her background is in both design and education, making her particularly passionate about making design useful to everyone looking to create rights-friendly alternatives to big tech platforms. Before she joined Superbloom, she taught design at the Stanford d.school and the Hasso-Plattner-Institut at the University of Potsdam. She is originally from the US but has lived in Berlin, Germany since 2015, where she lives with her husband and her two daughters.

Eriol Fox – Eriol has been working as a designer for 15+ years working in for-profits and then NGO's and open-source software organisations, working on complex problems like sustainable food systems, peace-building and crisis response technology. Eriol now works at Superbloom design, research, open-source and technology projects. They are also part of the core teams at Open Source Design (http://opensourcedesign.net/) and Human Rights Centred Design working group (https://hrcd.pubpub.org/) and Sustain UX & Design working group (https://sustainoss.org/working-groups/design-and-ux/) and help hosts podcast about open source and design (https://sosdesign.sustainoss.org/) Eriol is a non-binary, queer person who uses they/them pronouns.

• Superbloom Website
• Privacy Experience Heuristics
• https://github.com/sprblm/The-Design-We-Open

Resources Mentioned

• Signal – Encrypted messaging with strong privacy defaults
• Tor Browser – Privacy-first web browsing
• GDPR – European data protection law, often insufficiently implemented in UX
• Firefox, Proton, KeePassXC – Examples discussed throughout.
• Personas Non Grata

Further Reading / Related Episodes

• Episode 2: "Beyond Honeypots: Privacy, Security, and the Future of Distributed Webs"
• Episode 8: "The Great Disruption: Building Human-Centered Digital Futures"

Call to Action

How does privacy feel when you use your favorite app? Is it smooth? Supportive? Empowering? Molly and Eriol challenge us to design not just for policy, but for people. Listen to this episode and explore how design can help us reclaim digital agency.

🎧 Listen now: Episode Link

Credits

Host: Mary Camacho

Guests: Molly Willson & Eriol Fox

Produced by Terms of Service Podcast

Sound Design: Arthur Vincent and Sonor Lab

Co-Producers: Nicole Klau Ibarra & Mary Camacho