Google Safety Center Redesign
Redesigning the architecture and content for the home of Google's digital safety information.
Overview
Google's safety and privacy information was scattered across dozens of product pages, help centers, and policy documents. There was no single, coherent destination for users who wanted to understand Google safety features. The Safety Center needed to become that destination: a unified, authoritative resource spanning Google's entire product ecosystem, from Search and Gmail to Nest and YouTube.
The challenge wasn't just organizational. Every product had its own marketing team with its own priorities, and Legal had final say over what could and couldn't be said about each one. My job was to build the information architecture and content framework that could hold all of that complexity together.
My role
Information architecture: defining hierarchy, taxonomy, and navigation structure
Content design: establishing templates and frameworks for how each product safety story would be told, as well as final messaging and copy
Collaboration with product marketers to identify the most important safety messages for each product
Partnership with Legal to ensure all content met compliance requirements without sacrificing clarity and impact
Content maps to guide the design team
Key Insight
“Lead with the benefit, not the technology.”
Users don't come to a safety resource to understand how something works. They come to feel reassured and in control. Research confirmed this clearly, and it became the organizing principle for structuring content across every product: lead with what it does for you, not how it does it.
Information Architecture
Building a system that could scale
With 16+ products and multiple content categories spanning privacy, security, AI, and content safety, the IA challenge was significant. I developed a hierarchical framework that organized content into three primary dimensions — Safer by Design, Product Protections, and Safety Settings — giving users multiple intuitive entry points depending on their mindset and intent.
The structure needed to work for a first-time visitor trying to understand Google's privacy philosophy and a power user looking for specific settings controls — simultaneously.
Content Design
A template for every product story
One of the most complex aspects of the project was creating a repeatable content framework for each product page. Every product marketer had a different view of what mattered most, and Legal had constraints on what could be claimed. I developed a content template that created consistency across products while leaving room for each team to tell their specific safety story — and built a working process with Legal to move efficiently through approvals without losing the clarity of the message.
Research & Validation
Testing at every stage
Usability testing informed both the IA and the content design. I tested navigation structures, page hierarchy, and content templates with real users to ensure the information was findable and the language was clear — particularly important given the sensitivity of the subject matter and the breadth of Google's audience.