Samizdat Online is an anti-censorship news aggregator that unlocks state-sponsored restrictions to independent journalism access.
As one of the first few hires, I was tasked with designing Samizdat Online's platform and brand identity. Government-imposed restrictions in Iran, Russia, and Belarus hinder citizens' access to independent/non-state journalism.
I worked directly with the founders and our lean team of 10. We spoke with people who experienced censorship first-hand and built a product to empower individuals to overcome this by mirroring the domains of censored channels and aggregating them onto a single platform.
We reached nearly 12k visits in the last month, which increased from 4k users the first month, connecting users with nearly 60 independent censored channels in our targeted areas.
Our product has been profiled in Wired, Fast Company, Voice of America, Business Insider, and The Nation.
Research
To dive into the challenges experienced by those impacted by censorship, we spoke with 7 people who previously lived in a region where DNS blocking is widespread and learned about their news reading habits and the risks they face when accessing information that challenges their country’s leadership.
We mapped out 3 user journeys to break down our understanding of the perspectives of journalists and readers. Our participants faced a myriad of challenges that they’d address by censoring their own private conversations, connecting to VPN, tilting their phones in public to conceal their screens, and sticking to a small list of trusted apps to communicate and circulate news stories.
VPN connection
A VPN connection is required to access non-state media. Usually comes with risk and requires a crypto account or pre-paid card.
Device concealing
In public areas, users tilt their phone screens or click out of a page to hide the content they are reading.
Specific encrypted messaging platforms used to circulate stories
Journalists and news readers have an array of encrypted messaging platforms they prefer and trust.
SOS-Links™
Enable access to blocked content by implementing obfuscated links that mirror channels' original domains which bypass government databases
Privacy mode
Recognize the intention to hide the content from others or provide a dark mode option to reduce screen brightness.
Share feature
Enable users to share news articles and channels with their network, including copy URL, Create QR Code, and Sharing via.
Mapping
Time was of the essence for this project, and we wanted a swift launch to get information back into the hands of users. We began mapping out our platform's flows and critical features so the dev team could begin their work on the back end as soon as possible.
We brainstormed all feature possibilities and identified which would have the most substantial contribution to our MVP and prioritized based on dev lift which features to design and hand off first.
We mapped out the user's movement within our platform, including site entry and exit points when they leave Samizdat to access external sources.
To comprehend the technology's interaction with users, we identified two key aspects: the touch points where users engage with our platform and the points where users interact with our link nodes (external channels).
Early Concepts
We pulled out key pain points from our research and incorporated a solution for each in the early design.
Branding
I worked closely with the founders to create a brand identity reflecting our mission. We explored several art directions, shapes, colors, mood boards, and historical references. We opted for a visual language that would speak to the safety, security, and defiance our platform offers.
As a young startup with a low budget, we went with a free, dynamic sans-serif font that had character sets for the languages we would publish in; Cyrillic, Farsi, Arabic, and Roman.
For our primary brand color, we went with an indigo blue to convey a sense of safety and security. We created both a light mode and conceal mode that would assist users who wish to conceal their screens by projecting less light.
We went with a simple yet recognizable logo, opting for a revolving sphere that both represented the ongoing nature of the news cycle and a life raft.
Design
Our user’s experience begins with the news feed: an aggregated, infinite scroll of stories by censored channels from all regions and languages.
To connect our users to our journalists and vice versa, we designed a channel menu that aggregates all censored channels on our platform, organized by language, Recently Added, and Top Channels.
Outcome
We reached nearly 12k visits in the last month, which increased from 4k users the first month, connecting users with nearly 60 independent censored channels in our targeted areas.
— 57.5% of visitors scroll through content
— 1.7 engaged sessions per user
— Avg. engagement time of 1m 44s
Our product has been profiled in Wired, Fast Company, Voice of America, Business Insider, and The Nation.
Reflection
By far the most challenging aspect of leading design from zero to one is balancing the requirements of the stakeholders, the needs of the users, and the interest of potential investors.
I was lucky to have the support of a phenomenal team of devoted experts at every phase of this project who were passionate about our mission. While I was the only designer on this project, the devs, journalists, and founders were always there to brainstorm and canvass ideas alongside me.
This case study is a mere glimpse of the year's worth of effort that went into it. If you'd like to hear more, please feel free to reach out.
