How do you explain transparency?

The Transparency Report is a wide ranging initiative to publicize and share Google's internal data related to copyright takedown requests, government warrants for user data, and email encryption. I was principally involved in several iterations of the product redesign, as well as communications and announcements related to launches and updates. 

For instance, the "Safer Email" section of the report shares data on inbound and outbound traffic to Gmail, and whether other email service providers encrypt user communications. Even superficially prosaic email traffic – newsletters sent from Constant Contact or eBay purchase receipts – contain lots of personally identifiable information. By sharing data on this email traffic, Google lightly pressured peers to up their game and do more for their users. 

I'm particularly proud of the above redacted sharegraphic, which helped Google convey significant policy frustrations around government surveillance of internet users. This simple visual device helped translate a wonky issue into consumer-ready social content with unmistakably bold visuals.

As The Atlantic put it –

“Today brings the release of the first Transparency Report since the Snowden revelations about widespread government surveillance, and Google’s tone has changed dramatically. Three pretty boxes of Googlified data, and then this mess.

“Google, it says, has been pressing the U.S. government for more leeway about what it can tell Internet users about its relationship with America’s national security apparatus. Unfortunately for users, that means persisting in a state of poor and often conflicting information about the security and use of the bytes and bytes of data we all create every single day.”

Produced by Blue State Digital for Google Take Action.

• Creative direction: Chris Royalty
• Design: Jamielyn Smith, Andrew Zimbleman, & Jenna Steely
• Web development: Jon Jandoc 
• Account and project management: Ben Murray, Nicole Hampton, and Julia Batenhorst