PhishDetect is an open-source browser extension that helps at-risk users mitigate phishing attacks through a coordinated human network.

Brand identity / Creative strategy / Illustrations

Objective / Challenge

Amnesty International asked SimlySecure, a nonprofit that helps practitioners design technology that centres and protects vulnerable populations, to help improve user accessibility and trust for PhishDetect, an open-source browser extension that helps at-risk users mitigate phishing attacks by empowering a coordinated human network. I was asked by SimplySecure to create a brand identity and visual ecosystem for PhishDetect to create stronger lines of communication between the extension and user.

Solution

The team at SimplySecure used a research-intensive approach to modernise the tool’s design, clarify its language and leverage consistent graphics to enhance user comprehension and assurance. The brand identity and visual ecosystem had to be accessible and comprehensible and had to include a mascot, an extended visual metaphor and a logical ecosystem to improve usability through enhanced UX. It had to be friendly but not overly humorous, consistent and compelling. The result was an underwater world where a whale and a bird (network admins) help the school of fish (users) work together to avoid drifting into polluted waters (phishing). Though the characters belong to different species, they happily work together to keep the ocean (the community) safe for all.