Pandora: defamiliarization of the user experience

The human-computer interface, today known as user experience, has become the filter for most of human experiences; it is the layer between human beings and technology. Being constructed on the model of the black box, the interface conceals its structure and leaves the user to concentrate on the inputs and the outputs. Consequently, the problematics linked with the way technology works and the social impact that it has are hidden behind the belief of a neutral and unbiased interface.

User experience design has been helping this kind of narrative by encouraging an interface in which the user is mindlessly navigating, forgetting about the medium itself. Through the rules of usability is created a frictionless experience rather than a constructive one. My final project revolves around the possibility of playing with the rules of usability in user experience design and will concentrate on an element that is usually not as seamlessly designed as in the rest of the interface: the privacy and cookie policy. Consisting in a browser extension, my thesis should allow the user to experience the privacy and cookie policy in a different light, while making the user aware of the presence of the interface itself.