Gallery
UXL Design-a-thon Competition
Trace is a desktop plugin that rebuilds trust in digital art by verifying the creative process through action tracking. Built in 36 hours, placed in finals, and awarded Best User Research at UXL Laurier, our solution gives artists flexible control over transparency with a 2-tier system and seamless OS integration. I led user research, user flows, and UX/UI design prototyping for the creator experience.
Goals
As AI-generated art becomes increasingly sophisticated, digital artists face a growing crisis of authenticity. Including insights from Reddit discussions, many creatives find their work mistakenly flagged as AI-generated, while AI art is often passed off as original.
In an era where AI blurs the lines of artistic authorship, we asked:
How might we use technology to rebuild trust and deepen connections between digital artists and global audiences in an era where authenticity is constantly in question?
What I've done far
We designed a desktop plugin that passively tracks creative actions, such as cursor movements and tool use to verify artistic authenticity without disrupting workflow. Artists choose their preferred level of transparency through a 2-tier system, balancing proof with privacy.
Currently doing:
GOALS & CHALLENGES
Appnovation’s marketing team set out to re-energize our brand presence and attract new leads in high-value industries like healthcare and pharma, while reinforcing our expertise in AI-enabled digital solutions.
Our goals:
Build awareness in healthcare and pharma through a three-phase campaign (Awareness → Education → Consideration/Conversion).
Strengthen AI-focused brand storytelling tied to our new tagline: “Fueled by experience. Powered by AI.”
Enhance visual storytelling by integrating more motion and video, while maintaining consistency within the brand system.
Prepare for a future website refresh (migrating from Drupal to Builder.io), while optimizing visuals and content on the existing platform
STRATEGY & EXECUTION
We designed a desktop plugin that passively tracks creative actions, such as cursor movements and tool use to verify artistic authenticity without disrupting workflow. Artists choose their preferred level of transparency through a 2-tier system, balancing proof with privacy.
MY NEXT STEPS
Real-Time Action Tracker
Continuously logs creative actions like clicks, keystrokes, and tool usage with timestamps. Screen recording is optional.
Seamless OS Bar Access
Always-on icon in the desktop bar gives creators instant access to status and controls.
Intuitive Recording Controls
Dropdown menu lets users manage recordings, mark timestamps, and adjust settings mid-creation.
DESIGN PROCESS
RESEARCH & IDEATION
To bridge the trust gap, we explored features that could document an artist’s creative process. We began with a brainstorming session using sticky notes, where we listed every possible feature that could help verify artistic authenticity. I then took these ideas and categorized them onto a journey map, visualizing how artists might interact with a verification tool at different stages of their workflow.
As a graphic designer myself, I drew inspiration from tools I use daily. Photoshop’s History tool was a major influence, as well as Blender's Scene Collection tool. It allows artists to step through past actions, making it easier to track changes. I also looked at screen recording software, which could be the tool to passively capture creative processes without requiring manual input.
ITERATION
I worked on the user flows, mapping out the artist’s journey from starting a new project to exporting a verified piece. Early versions of these flows highlighted gaps in user control.
For verification, the original idea was to have a simple verification badge, but this lacked depth in proving authenticity and didn't address varying artist preferences. The system felt too rigid, requiring screen recordings that some artists found intrusive.
I then refined the flow, and introduced optional screen recording and a tiered transparency system, ensuring that artists could verify their work in a way that felt comfortable and authentic to them, and can control to what extent content can be recorded and how tools are shown. I felt this approach allowed artists to verify their work in a way that aligned with their comfort level.
