Dark Patterns Exposed
What are Dark Patterns?
Dark Patterns
What are dark patterns, and why is this website “exposing” them? Dark Patterns are deceptive design techniques implemented by applications/websites to coerce the consumer to do something that they may not have necessarily been wanting to do - all for the gain of the service provider. Ever felt that the application that you're using becomes a bit too complicated when you're trying to cancel a subscription? Thats a dark pattern technique. Have you ever come across a number of surprise "service fees" in the checkout page? Thats another dark pattern technique.
Webdemic
These design techniques are highly unethical and are designed to prey upon users' cognitive biases, abuse users' data and abuse user trust for financial gain. These UI/UX developers hold a responsibility and need to be held accountable for such practices. The scale of dark pattern implementation is rampant, its a true pandemic of the web - greater awareness must be a priority so we can gain control of our UXs.
Techniques
Dark Patterns come in a number of different techniques (to achieve various purposes) and as a practice are largely unknown by the average consumer. The infographic on the left highlights a number of these techniques.
The Problem
If it’s not illegal, some may ask, what is the problem with this? Well, like many other aspects of the computing industry, the law isn’t always the most consistent indicator for what is right and wrong. Abusing the consumers trust by providing a service that undermines the value of honesty (which is what most dark pattern techniques ultimately do) is highly unethical and wrong.
UX/UI designers should always prioritize the needs of the consumer and create interfaces that provide a smooth and efficient user experience. Raising awareness about these deceptive design tactics is very important, as people have the right to be aware of how they are unknowingly being exploited, for profit, by these corporations on a regular basis.
How can I avoid Dark Patterns?
Spreading Awareness
So, the question remains, how can we avoid being exploited by these unethical design techniques? Well, the first step must be spreading awareness. By educating the average user on how industry is taking advantage of them, and how to take steps to avoid this, we are reducing the effectiveness of these deceptive design techniques. This website will be dedicated to doing exactly that; educating people about these techniques and how to avoid them.
This Site
There are two dedicated pages that users can explore to better understand what dark patterns are, the “Dark Pattern Techniques” page, where you can find explanations on the different Dark Pattern techniques that you may come across, and a simple interactive game where users can test what they've learnt (the "Expose the Dark Patterns" page).
Future Features
We have plans to extend the website further by adding further features like a user submission page; where users can submit their experiences of coming across dark pattern techniques - which would ultimately become a massive log of dark pattern techniques that applications/websites implement.
Dive in
Piqued your interest? Let's have a more in depth look at the different techniques.