We might not like to admit it but deception is deeply entwined with life on this planet. Insects evolved to use it, animals employ it in their behavior, and of course, we humans use it to manipulate, control, and profit from each other. With this in mind it’s no surprise that deception appears in various guises in user interfaces on the web today. What is surprising, though, is that up until recently it was something web designers never talked about. There was no terminology, no design patterns, and no real recognition of it as a phenomenon at all. If it wasn’t a taboo it certainly felt like one.
To fill the gap, darkpatterns.org was created in August 2010: a pattern library with the specific goal of naming and shaming deceptive user interfaces (aka “dark patterns”) and the companies that use them. This article will provide you with a brief overview of the library and some specific examples of dark patterns in use today.
If we put aside our moral quibbles let’s put ourselves in the shoes of an evil web designer for a moment. How can we take advantage of our customers in the most effective manner? First off, subtlety is our friend. For example, if our site is going to hit users with hidden costs in the checkout process, we’ll be more effective if we add relatively small costs. If we add $100 to a $20 purchase, the customer will most likely notice and drop out. We’d be much better off adding just a few dollars as some sort of “order processing fee.” Even if customers notice this, they probably won’t bother dropping out as the cost is too small to justify going through the checkout process on another site. This is why deceptive user interfaces are so common on the web—in isolation they’re usually so small that each one is barely annoying enough for people to do anything about them.
Let’s continue a while as evil web designers: perhaps you’ve never thought about it before but all of the guidelines, principles, and methods that ethical designers use to design usable websites can be easily subverted to benefit business owners at the expense of users. It’s actually quite simple to take our understanding of human psychology and flip it over to the dark side. Let’s look at some examples:
| Psychological Insight |
Applied Honestly (benefits users) |
Applied Deceptively (benefits business) |
| “We don’t read pages. We scan them” —Steve Krug |
Aid rapid comprehension: ensure key content is shown in headings, subheadings (etc), using a strong visual hierarchy. |
Hide key information:
Bury facts within paragraphs of text, so some users will proceed without fully understanding the transaction. |
| “People tend to stick to the defaults” —Jakob Nielsen |
Prevent mistakes:
Default to the option that’s safest for the user. In important contexts, don’t use defaults and require the user to make an explicit choice. |
Benefit from mistakes:
Ensure default options benefit the business, even if this means some users convert without meaning to. |
| “People will do things that they see other people are doing” —Robert Cialdini |
Show unedited feedback:
Allow real customers to share their experiences, so they can make accurate pre-purchase evaluations. |
Bury negative feedback:
Hand-pick positive feedback and display it prominently. Bury negative feedback so it is hard to find. |
