Dark Patterns — The Shady Side of UX/UI
To put it simply, UX design is all about understanding a user’s needs, wants and expectations to improve the overall usefulness and experience of a product. Designers must have a willingness to learn, empathy and a dynamic mindset to not only stay on trend, but to also expand their skill set to adhere to user expectations.
But even through studying and learning about users, there are sneaky techniques lurking in designers’ creativity that are quite the opposite of having the user’s best interests at heart.
Introducing: Dark Patterns
Dark Patterns are UX/UI interactions that are deceptive on purpose. They are cast to trick human psychology and mislead users into doing something they don’t want to — it’s not good for users, but it benefits many companies.
The term, Dark Patterns, was coined by Harry Brignull, a London-based UX designer. His definition is,
“A user interface that has been carefully crafted to trick users into doing things, such as buying insurance with their purchase or signing up for recurring bills.”
Since their premiere as the classic ‘You are the 100th visitor today. Click to win £1000. This is not a joke!’ pop-up ads, Dark Patterns have evolved in complexity but also in how cunningly they are displayed. Harry Brignull gives an overview, saying,
“When you use the web, you don’t read every word on every page — you skim read and make assumptions. If a company wants to trick you into doing something, they can take advantage of it by making a page look like it is saying one thing when in fact it is saying another.”
Not sure what we mean? Here are some examples:
Misdirection
In this ad on the Tube Map app, two ‘X’s are presented to resemble a quitting option for the user. One is featured on the Instagram advert, and another on the top left of the screen. This misdirects the user as to what ‘X’ they need to press to get back to using the app.
Fake Notifications
This app pretends to have a notification on the image of the icon to make the user click onto the app to get rid of it.
No Ship, Sherlock
This promotion on ASOS’ website presents a discount code for 20% off of EVERYTHING and states that beauty and sportswear items are excluded. To some users, this may suggest that shipping is also included in the deal as it is not specified like beauty and sportswear. That is until they scroll up the webpage and then hover over a banner to find in tiny, barely-there writing that shipping is also excluded.
Even in your sandwich packaging…
This deception is self-explanatory.
Trick Questions
Featuring an opt-in/opt-out box that isn’t checked by default, Sky presents a sentence carefully and purposely constructed to confuse the user. The confusion may make an annoyed user tick the box to get rid of it, but they will then find themselves subscribed to Sky’s newsletters.
Dirty Screen
This ad on a mobile app features a speckle of dirt which makes the user think their phone is dirty, when the user tries to wipe the ‘dirt’ they will end up tapping on the ad. Some ads also go as far as including screen cracks.
Dark Patterns goes beyond ‘bad design’ — bad design is a result of laziness, lack of research and creativity. Dark Patterns are not mistakes, they target the impressionable with dishonesty and deceit.
Unfortunately, even in a world where authenticity, ethics and call-out culture are drilled into us and the technology we use and consume, there are no easy solutions to Dark Patterns.
Giving in to Dark Patterns is a cheap way to meet short-term goals. Designers should have a better moral code prepared for themselves and colleagues, and users should also be encouraged to understand and confront products they are being sold.
Author: Sophie Hall
