Confirmshaming
A dark pattern where the user is guilt-tripped into opting into something by using language designed to shame them if they decline. Designers must avoid this manipulative tactic and respect user decisions without using guilt or shame.
29 topics found for:
“dark patterns”
Forced Action
A dark pattern where the user is required to do something in order to access certain functionality or information. Designers must avoid compulsory actions and provide optional choices to respect user autonomy.
Roach Motel
A dark pattern where it's easy to get into a situation but hard to get out of it, such as signing up for a service but finding it difficult to cancel. Awareness of this tactic is crucial to design fair user experiences with straightforward entry and exit points.
Confirming Subscription
A dark pattern where users are tricked into confirming a subscription through misleading language or design. It's crucial to avoid misleading users and ensure clear communication about subscription terms and conditions.
Bait and Switch
A dark pattern where users think they are going to take one action, but a different, undesirable action happens instead. Designers must avoid this deceptive practice and be aware of its impact to ensure transparent user interactions.
Time Pressure
A dark pattern where users are pressured to make quick decisions by creating a false sense of urgency. Designers must avoid creating artificial urgency and allow users to make decisions at their own pace.
Nagging
A dark pattern where repetitive notifications or prompts are used to wear down user resistance. Recognizing the annoyance of this tactic is important to maintain respectful user interactions and avoid interruptions.
Hidden Costs
A dark pattern where additional costs are only revealed at the last step of the checkout process. It's essential to avoid this tactic and promote transparent pricing to build user trust.
Activity Tracking
A dark pattern where users' activities are tracked without their explicit consent or knowledge. Designers must avoid this practice and ensure clear communication about tracking to respect user privacy.
Obstruction
A dark pattern where a process is made more difficult than it needs to be to discourage certain behavior. Recognizing the harm of this practice is important to design straightforward user processes.
Misdirection
A dark pattern where the design focuses the user's attention on one thing to distract them from another. Designers should avoid this deceptive tactic and ensure user attention is not unfairly diverted.
Friend Spam
A dark pattern where the product asks for the user's social media or email credentials and then spams all the user's contacts. Recognizing the harm of this practice is important to protect user trust and avoid spamming their contacts.
Disguised Ads
A dark pattern where advertisements are disguised as other types of content or navigation to trick users into clicking on them. Awareness of this tactic is crucial to maintain transparency and prevent misleading users with disguised content.
Sneak Peek
A dark pattern where users are shown a preview of content that is then gated behind a paywall or sign-up. It's crucial to avoid this misleading practice and be transparent about access requirements.
Sneak Into Basket
A dark pattern where a product sneaks an additional item into the user's shopping cart, often through a pre-selected checkbox. Designers should avoid this practice and ensure users have full control over their purchases to maintain trust.
Scarcity Tactics
A dark pattern where availability is falsely limited to pressure users into making a purchase. Awareness of this deceptive practice is important to provide honest information about product availability.
Privacy Zuckering
A dark pattern where the user is tricked into publicly sharing more information about themselves than they intended. Designers must avoid this deceptive practice and ensure clear, consensual data sharing to respect user privacy.
Obfuscated Options
A dark pattern where options to opt out or cancel services are deliberately hidden or made difficult to find. It's essential to avoid hiding options and provide clear, accessible choices for users to manage their preferences.
Interface Interference
A dark pattern where the user interface is manipulated in a way that prioritizes certain actions over others to benefit the company. It's crucial to avoid this tactic and design fair interfaces without manipulating user actions.
Hidden Subscription
A dark pattern where users are unknowingly signed up for a recurring subscription. Awareness of this tactic is important to ensure transparent subscription services and prevent deceptive charges.
Forced Enrollment
A dark pattern where users are forced to sign up for an account to complete a basic task. Designers should avoid this practice and provide optional account creation to respect user preferences.
Forced Continuity
A dark pattern where a free trial ends and the user is automatically charged without warning. Designers should avoid this practice and ensure users are clearly informed about charges to maintain ethical standards.
Trick Questions
A dark pattern where questions are worded in a way that tricks the user into giving an answer they didn't intend. Recognizing the harm of this practice is important to maintain clarity and honesty in user interactions.
Trick Cancellation
A dark pattern where the cancellation process is intentionally complicated to discourage users from canceling. Designers must avoid complicating cancellations and respect user decisions with a straightforward process.
Subscription Trap
A dark pattern where it's easy to subscribe but very difficult to cancel the subscription. Awareness of this tactic is important to provide straightforward and user-friendly subscription management.
Price Comparison Prevention
A dark pattern where practices are used to make it hard for users to compare prices with other options. It's essential to avoid this tactic and promote fair competition by allowing users to make informed decisions.
Pre-Selected Options
A dark pattern where options that benefit the service provider are pre-selected for the user. Designers should avoid default selections and ensure users make active choices that are in their best interest.
Dark Patterns
UI/UX design tactics that intentionally manipulate users into taking actions they might not otherwise take. Important for recognizing and avoiding unethical design practices.
Exit Modal
A pop-up dialog that appears when a user attempts to leave a page or application, which can be used to prevent loss of progress or data, or to confirm user intent. While it can be used ethically to prevent data loss or confirm actions, designers must avoid using it to deceive, delay, block, or interfere with the user's intent, thus ensuring it does not become a dark pattern.