Synoptic HaloMaking Personal Data Collection Visible
A reverse-monitoring tool that visualizes how IoT devices collect personal data, combining product design, spatial data visualization, and an app experience.
Where I started
Smart devices collect voice, behavior, location, preference, and identity data, but users rarely see what is being collected or how it is used.
Privacy controls are often buried in terms, fragmented across devices, and difficult to manage one by one in an IoT environment.
Designing the experience
Mapped personal data into categories such as identifiable, sensitive, behavioral, and assembled information.
Designed a device that reads data flow from smart environments and projects live visualizations onto walls or ceilings.
Created an app concept for viewing collected data, controlling device permissions, reading privacy terms, and sharing data rights information.
Learnings & reflection
Data privacy becomes easier to discuss when abstract collection systems are represented as visible, real-time behavior.
A privacy tool needs to be both informational and ambient, so it can live naturally inside the home instead of feeling like a dashboard chore.