The Usability Lab aims to increase user safety and promote practical internet freedom by working with developers and technologists to improve the usability of open source circumvention and digital security tools.
Through its service providers, the Usability Lab provides the following services as an in-kind resource to OTF-funded projects and other internet freedom technologies:
- Secure Usability Audits , which will analyze and identify any pitfalls that might make it difficult for users under threat to use your tool.
- Secure Usability and User Experience (UX) Consultations , to connect tools with Usability and UX experts to help address a specific gap in expertise, or to work on solving the hard and specific challenges facing digital security tools.
- Secure Usability Testing , which is similar to a Usability Audit, but limited in scope to a particular area or aspect of the tool.
- User Research and User Studies , to help tools better understand the needs of their users, and how to articulate those needs in the design of their tools.
- Assistance in secure UX Design , to help projects to design their tool in a manner that puts their user’s needs, usability, and security first.
- Assistance developing secure usable Style Guides , which outline user interface and graphical elements, rules and guidelines to ensure a cohesive and consistent user experience across different aspects of a tool.