CryptPad is an encrypted and open-source collaboration suite. One year ago I joined the team as a designer. In this talk I will present some of what has been achieved and reflect on the challenges ahead.
When I joined CryptPad in November 2019, the project had already been operating for a few years. Like many open-source projects it was lacking on the design front and I was brought in to "improve the user experience". This broad task takes on many forms, but they all boil down to one thing: improving communication. Whether in UI design, UX writing, answering support tickets, writing documentation, or visual identity, all of my work to date has been about how CryptPad communicates. I did not set out to re-invent everything from scratch but rather aimed to consolidate what was already there and to make the software more legible in a broad sense. This includes the strategy for implementing design changes gradually, negotiating immediate demands (e.g. implementing a new feature) and longer-term ambitions (e.g. rebranding) all while adhering to the release cycle. In this talk I will highlight examples of design improvements achieved this year, from specific features to the release of our documentation and our upcoming 4.0 release with a new visual identity. I will also reflect on the next major challenge: accessibility.
Speakers: David Benque