Some notes about Dark UX-pattents

Bait and Switch
1. “You set out to do one thing, but a different, undesirable thing happens instead.”
  1. It’s free
  2. We just need your credit card and social security number first
Disguised Ads
1. “Adverts that are disguised as other kinds of content or navigation, in order to get you to click on them.”
  1. to confuse users and get them to click on the ad
2. usually appear in the form of playable ads
Misdirection
1. “The design purposefully focuses your attention on one thing in order to distract your attention from another.”
  1. Look here, now click there, and check this box — and boom! You’ve just sold your soul to the devil
  2. you can't understand where you are
Friend Spam
1. “The product asks for your email or social media permissions under the pretense it will be used for a desirable outcome (e.g. finding friends), but then spams all your contacts in a message that claims to be from you.”
  1. No wonder I have no friends
Hidden Costs
1. “You get to the last step of a checkout process, only to discover some unexpected charges have appeared, e.g. delivery charges, tax, etc.”
  1. The price seems to keep going up as I progress through the checkout process…hmm
Trick questions
1. “You respond to a question, which, when glanced upon quickly appears to ask one thing, but if read carefully, asks another thing entirely.”
  1. a question that tricks you into giving an answer you didn't intend
Confirm shaming
1. “Making the user feel guilty for not selecting the suggested option. Generally, the company in question uses copywriting to shame the user for not selecting the company’s desired choice.”
  1. act of guilting the user into opting into something
  2. Want To Say ‘No’? Shame on you!
    1. More interesting and funny examples can be found here: http://confirmshaming.tumblr.com/
    2. You can also take a look at a few of my favourites below:
  3. try to bite you emotionally
    1. I’m not interested in getting more knowledge
    2. I don’t care about children’s health
    3. I would rather not keep up-to-date
    4. when a site asks you to sign up for their thing and then the 'no thank you' link is some hot garbage
    5. http://confirmshaming.tumblr.com/
Roach Motel
1. “The design makes it very easy for you to get into a certain situation but then makes it hard for you to get out of it (e.g. subscription).”
  1. get into a situation very easily, but then you find it is hard to get out of it
    1. premium subscription
  2. Want To Say Goodbye? Not So Easy!
    1. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
1. “This bamboozles users into believing an item is in high demand which puts them under pressure to make a quick buying decision. Users feel that if they don’t make a decision soon then they will lose out on this novel opportunity.”
  1. If it’s so popular, then why do you show me an Instagram ad for it every day?
Sneak into Basket
1. “You attempt to purchase something, but somewhere in the purchasing journey, the site sneaks an additional item into your basket, often through the use of an opt-out radio button or checkbox on a prior page.”
  1. an additional item into your basket
  2. Stay focused, or you may unwittingly hand over the rights to your firstborn
Privacy Zuckering
1. sharing more information about yourself than you really intended to
Price Comparison Prevention
1. it hard to compare the price of an items
Forced Continuity
1. free trial with a service comes to an end and your credit card silently starts getting charged without any warning
Some notes about #DarkPatterns. Let's use 5W2H method
1. What
  1. Harry Brignull
    1. A user interface that has been carefully crafted to trick users into doing things..they are not mistakes, they are carefully crafted with a solid understanding of human psychology, and they do not have the user’s interests in mind.
      1. It’s just a matter of time before a competitor comes along who provides a better experience. If your business depends on Dark Patterns to succeed, you’re just leaving yourself open to being disrupted
  2. Dark UX
    1. designers create an experience that pushes users in a direction that benefits the interests of the company rather than the user
  3. Tricks
    1. Make the users do things that they did not mean to
  4. uxmatters.com
    1. Dark patterns are design patterns that are effective, but evil
      1. When they succeed, they drive users to make accidental or uninformed decisions against their best interests
2. Why
  1. to aggressively promote services that aren’t attractive enough to keep users engaged
  2. boost profits for a short term
3. When
  1. for short-term results
    1. negative impact in the long-term
      1. users will switch to more honest products
4. Where
  1. all digital products
    1. web, desktop, mobile ets
5. Who
  1. get-rich-quick schemes
6. How many
7. How
  1. until they lose all users
  2. until there are problems with the law
8. Summary
  1. you cannot make an informed decision
  2. you
    1. lose
      1. data
      2. privacy data
      3. social media accounts
      4. data of credit card
      5. friend
      6. face
      7. confidence
      8. a good relationship
    2. waste
      1. time
      2. money
    3. get
      1. a lot of problems
      2. at work
      3. at home
      4. frustration
  3. Be carefull
    1. such patterns targeting children
Sources
1. https://uxknowledgebase.com
2. https://www.darkpatterns.org/types-of-dark-pattern
3. https://uxdesign.cc/10-evil-types-of-dark-ux-patterns-f5a408c43c62
4. https://uxdesign.cc/the-dark-ux-patterns-targeting-children-6c6cb1f0624d
5. https://icons8.com/articles/dark-ux-patterns-advertising/
6. https://medium.com/beautiful-code-smart-design-by-10clouds/5-common-ux-dark-patterns-interfaces-designed-to-trick-you-61fdede9718c