Paris Design Jam - GDPR for Startups

I was invited to participate in TTC Labs' Paris Design Jam as a design expert.
With designers, developers and privacy experts, we used design thinking practices to design potential solutions to solve digital privacy issues for privacy-first products.

Event: Paris Design Jam.
Organizer: TTC Labs
Topic: Privacy by Design & Data Protection
Format: Joint workshop based on design jam methodology

Design Expert

We moved quickly from abstract privacy concerns to tangible product concepts using TTC Labs's process: four phases, rapid iteration, and collaborative problem-solving.

We surfaced key challenges: how do users understand their data? What transparency do they need? Where does privacy matter most?

We explored ambitious ideas for privacy-first product experiences. Bold sketches on whiteboards, rapid voting, no filtering early.

We sketched and mocked up the most promising directions — fast, lo-fi, testable.

Teams demoed prototypes and gathered live feedback from the room. Reflection on what worked, what surprised us.

Yellow post-it notes on a whiteboard

How Might we...?

I focused on translating abstract privacy concepts into concrete interactions. Made it possible for diverse teams (startups, researchers, designers) to collaborate without friction. Showed how design can balance clarity, simplicity, and respect when handling sensitive data topics.

A table with Sharpies and sheet of paper with 6 people sitting. They look at the whiteboard at the end of the table.

Collaboration

Design links privacy regulations and end-user understanding of privacy. Designers play a part in making privacy real and operational to the end-user.

A "privacy by design" thinking helps to reach more user-centric solutions: privacy principles should be included in the process from the very beginning and not added later on.

Cross-functional collaboration proves essential for tackling privacy challenges. Drawing on insights from design, engineering, legal, and privacy domains allows teams to address blind spots that any single discipline might miss.

Privacy restrictions pushed us to explore and consider new design approaches in order to find design solutions.
We successfully turned regulation constraints or roadblocks into drivers of innovation.

At the forefront a workgroup sitting at a table, one member holds a mic and talk, other smiling people in the room turn to look at him.

Sharing

Incorporating privacy concerns should naturally be part of the user experience and not something extra or a second thought.

On the whole, privacy design is really communication design—informing users about what's going on with their data and enabling them to make informed decisions.

Focus

Want to discuss this?