As data breaches, identity theft, and social engineering attempts continue to soar and endanger our digital lives, it’s clear that product and service security has become a necessity and a selling point. Yet, how do you integrate these principles while maintaining attractive and intuitive designs?
In this article, we examine four key principles designers who are unaccustomed to considering cybersecurity should follow. Find out how to organically incorporate these principles into your existing workflows to effectively improve security and user experience alike.
Collaborate With the IT Team
Becoming aware of the impact unsafe design practices have on end products and user experience is the first hurdle many designers need to overcome. Cybersecurity should be a key consideration from any digital design’s inception, not something one tacks on to tick a box.
Another outdated and damaging misconception is the belief that only developers, administrators, and other IT personnel are responsible for cybersecurity implementation after the fact. Instead, their input can be invaluable to shaping your design. They may uncover shortcomings inherent to a product’s current iteration or point out UX pain points you haven’t considered.
A collaborative approach is more likely to uncover fundamental flaws before they escalate. This allows designers and IT teams to jointly remove these flaws during the early stages of development, ultimately creating robust products without compromising ease of use or safety.
Transparently Collect Data
When visitors interact with a website, app, or online service, they willingly share data about themselves to make their experience more convenient and personalized. Tracking minute user interactions with a website or creating in-depth profiles on them through extensive questionnaires is tempting. Yet, limiting data collection to the essentials needed to offer and improve the service helps mitigate the damage of potential data breaches.
Transparency should come first. Explain the purpose of data collection and allow users to modify or remove their data. This will ensure compliance with data protection regulations and reduce users’ need to reduce their digital footprint. In any case, users can gain more control over their data with the help of the best data removal services.
Make Cybersecurity Engaging for the End User
Any good design should be human-centric. In the case of digital products and services, this means that as little as possible should stand between a user and accomplishing the tasks a product is designed for. Bringing cybersecurity into the mix creates friction, some of which not even good design can – or should – remove. Even so, the right approach can educate users and make them more receptive.
For example, two-factor authentication disrupts smooth usage since users need to complete an extra step to gain account access. Framing it as the valuable protective measure it is through considerate copy and appropriate security-themed graphics won’t speed up the process. However, people won’t mind as much since they’ll have a greater sense of agency in keeping their accounts and assets safe.
Don’t Neglect Your Own Cybersecurity
How you approach personal digital safety greatly impacts the security of the products you design. Consider just one crucial aspect – adequate password protection. How many design-related, collaboration, communication, and project management tools do you use? Protecting their login credentials with a password manager is a good idea. These tools create unique and unhackable passwords for each user. This way, they can keep their credentials secure while minimizing the impact of potential compromises.
Design documents, UI mockups, and exchanges with clients may contain sensitive information like customer and client data or be related to confidential intellectual property. Encrypting such files, creating backups, and only sharing them through trustworthy collaboration tools over secure networks ensures compliance while protecting data integrity and your reputation.
Conclusion
Elegant design that speaks to user sensibilities while keeping them safe from mounting and diverse threats isn’t a contradiction. Adopting the right mindset and collaborating more closely with more technically-minded colleagues is the recipe for success.
