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PHISHING FIGHTERS
Educating older adults about online scams through gamification
App Design
PROJECT TYPE
Conceptual App Design
TIMEFRAME
Sep - Dec 2024
ROLE
Primary UX Designer
TEAM
Hidar Elhassan, Jibril Samoun
TOOLS
Figma
THE PROBLEM
Older adults are vulnerable to online scams due to a gap in digital literacy. In the U.S., these scams cause over $1 billion in losses each year. Not only is this a huge financial problem, but it causes deep shame, isolation, and fear in older adults.
ADDITIONAL CONTEXT
Phishing is a type of scam that relies on impersonating a legitimate organization or person, often through email or text.
INITIAL RESEARCH
I interviewed my grandmother to get a sense of her relationship with technology and level of digital literacy. I asked her about her daily routine, how she uses technology, and what she wants to change.
INSIGHT 1
She values her independence, and doesn’t like to ask for help with technology
INSIGHT 2
She wants to communicate with her grandchildren more
INSIGHT 3
She regularly uses certain apps, but would prefer not to learn anything new
INITIAL SOLUTION IDEA
My teammate Jibril created the initial solution idea.
A service that sends mock phishing emails to family members. Each week, the leaderboard is updated so participants can see their family’s results.
LOW FIDELITY PROTOTYPES
After identifying an idea, our group developed wireframes to get a general sense of what the system might look like.
Invite family to the test session
Web version of app
Family leaderboard
MID FIDELITY PROTOTYPES
After creating wireframes, I took the primary role in refining the design through creating components in Figma and standardizing a color scheme.
Invite family to the test session
Web version of app
Family leaderboard
THE SOLUTION
A fun and low stakes way to test your whole family’s phishing awareness.
STEP 1
A family member downloads the Phishing Fighters app and registers the family for scheduled phishing tests.
STEP 2
Everyone in the family receives a mock phishing email at the same time.
STEP 3
Those who fall for the scam lose points on the family leaderboard. Points can be earned back by engaging with short educational videos on Phishing Fighters' website.
STEP 4
Family members compete and track each other’s progress, while building phishing scam awareness in the process.
Invite family to the test session
Web version of app
Family leaderboard
TAKEAWAYS
1
An app isn’t a full solution
It’s the entire system around the app that matters. Our team learned from user research that people are unlikely to download new apps without a strong incentive.
Envisioning our solution in context, with the influence of actual user behavior, economics, and legal liability, helped us flesh out an information system rather than a mockup.
2
Question assumptions about your audience
I assumed that older adults generally stay off technology like social media. I also assumed that young adults and children would be better at identifying phishing scams.
Through conducting user research and surveying academic research, our team realized both these assumptions were false.
Copyleft by Sunny Tian, 2026