Focus Area

UX Design

Timeline

8 weeks

2023

Role

UX Designer

Platform

Mobile App

+45%

+32%

-70%

willing to contribute

perceived data quality

harmful interactions

Seeds

Restructured their dashboard experience to surface insights faster and make complex data feel simple.

Problem Space

Small teams and social science researchers struggle to collect high-quality data due to limited participant reach, low motivation, and lack of safe spaces for open contribution.

Target Audience

Students, early-career researchers, and small organizations needing accessible, secure ways to gather and share data.

Research

Survey

Interview

Affinity Map

Competitor Analysis

Site Map

Survey

Interview

Affinity Map

Competitor Analysis

Site Map

Survey

Interview

Affinity Map

Competitor Analysis

Site Map

Conducted 3 interviews with student and early-career researchers, a 17-participant survey on online expression, and a concise competitor analysis across survey tools, open data platforms, and social media spaces.

Interview / Survey

Users face unmotivated respondents, limited outreach, lack of open datasets, and safety concerns when sharing opinions online. Anonymous participation and clear insight feedback emerged as key needs.

The people who fill out the questionnaire are often not self-motivated and so are not very cooperative.

Michael

2nd Year Student from UofT

As long as it is public data are considered easy to find, most difficulties happen when there is no data available.

Selina

Student in Statistics

Normally, our surveys are sent to people we know to fill out. In this way we can guarantee the quality of the responses to a certain extent.

Lauren

Parent of two girls aged 8 and 10

I only give detailed responses when I'm certain no one can trace them back to me. Otherwise, I keep it short.

Emily

Graduate Student

The real risk today isn’t the data you collect, but the datasets it can be linked with. Re-identification is easier than most people realize.

Julian

Community data rights advocate

The people who fill out the questionnaire are often not self-motivated and so are not very cooperative.

Michael

2nd Year Student from UofT

As long as it is public data are considered easy to find, most difficulties happen when there is no data available.

Selina

Student in Statistics

Normally, our surveys are sent to people we know to fill out. In this way we can guarantee the quality of the responses to a certain extent.

Lauren

Parent of two girls aged 8 and 10

I only give detailed responses when I'm certain no one can trace them back to me. Otherwise, I keep it short.

Emily

Graduate Student

The real risk today isn’t the data you collect, but the datasets it can be linked with. Re-identification is easier than most people realize.

Julian

Community data rights advocate

The people who fill out the questionnaire are often not self-motivated and so are not very cooperative.

Michael

2nd Year Student from UofT

As long as it is public data are considered easy to find, most difficulties happen when there is no data available.

Selina

Student in Statistics

Normally, our surveys are sent to people we know to fill out. In this way we can guarantee the quality of the responses to a certain extent.

Lauren

Parent of two girls aged 8 and 10

I only give detailed responses when I'm certain no one can trace them back to me. Otherwise, I keep it short.

Emily

Graduate Student

The real risk today isn’t the data you collect, but the datasets it can be linked with. Re-identification is easier than most people realize.

Julian

Community data rights advocate

The people who fill out the questionnaire are often not self-motivated and so are not very cooperative.

Michael

2nd Year Student from UofT

As long as it is public data are considered easy to find, most difficulties happen when there is no data available.

Selina

Student in Statistics

Normally, our surveys are sent to people we know to fill out. In this way we can guarantee the quality of the responses to a certain extent.

Lauren

Parent of two girls aged 8 and 10

I only give detailed responses when I'm certain no one can trace them back to me. Otherwise, I keep it short.

Emily

Graduate Student

The real risk today isn’t the data you collect, but the datasets it can be linked with. Re-identification is easier than most people realize.

Julian

Community data rights advocate

The people who fill out the questionnaire are often not self-motivated and so are not very cooperative.

Michael

2nd Year Student from UofT

As long as it is public data are considered easy to find, most difficulties happen when there is no data available.

Selina

Student in Statistics

Normally, our surveys are sent to people we know to fill out. In this way we can guarantee the quality of the responses to a certain extent.

Lauren

Parent of two girls aged 8 and 10

I only give detailed responses when I'm certain no one can trace them back to me. Otherwise, I keep it short.

Emily

Graduate Student

The real risk today isn’t the data you collect, but the datasets it can be linked with. Re-identification is easier than most people realize.

Julian

Community data rights advocate

The people who fill out the questionnaire are often not self-motivated and so are not very cooperative.

Michael

2nd Year Student from UofT

As long as it is public data are considered easy to find, most difficulties happen when there is no data available.

Selina

Student in Statistics

Normally, our surveys are sent to people we know to fill out. In this way we can guarantee the quality of the responses to a certain extent.

Lauren

Parent of two girls aged 8 and 10

I only give detailed responses when I'm certain no one can trace them back to me. Otherwise, I keep it short.

Emily

Graduate Student

The real risk today isn’t the data you collect, but the datasets it can be linked with. Re-identification is easier than most people realize.

Julian

Community data rights advocate

Competitor Analysis

Site Map

Solution

Seeds is a web-based social data platform enabling users to post data-driven questions, contribute anonymously, and generate instant visual insights. The design focuses on safety, clarity, and lowering barriers to participation.

Survey Creator

Single or multi-question. Customizable. Flexible limits. Smart notifications.

Privacy Protected Collection

Everyone collects. Everyone participates. Stay anonymous. Inspire reliable responses.

Visualization Generator

From attributes to insights. Instantly generated. Effortlessly customized.

Discover & Share

Browse recommendations or follow topics. Switch between articles and collections. Gain insights. Drive impact.

Impact

After completing the core design, I conducted 7 usability tests with students and early-career researchers to evaluate how the platform improved participation, data quality, and user safety. Each testing session included task completion measures, behavioral observation, and post-test interviews.

+45%

increase in willingness to contribute

Testing showed that anonymity and privacy-safe submission increased participant comfort and contributions.

+32%

improvement in perceived data quality

Testing indicated that targeted delivery to relevant contributors raised perceived data value.

-70%

reduction in harmful interactions

anonymity and filtering tools lowered offensive comments.