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Dark Patterns: UI Patterns Designed to Mislead
Some web sites have designs that are designed to deceive and possibly trick the user into doing things that they don’t want to do. These nefarious UI designs used on web sites are called “dark patterns”.
An example of a “dark pattern” is hiding the unsubscribe link on a web site, burying it low on the page and making it low contrast and difficult to see. Dark patterns also include things like bait and switch and hiding costs like shipping fees and taxes that aren’t available until the last step of checkout. The web site darkpatterns.org lists the many ways that web sites try to take advantage of their users by deceitful design.
Harry Brignull, British specialist in User Interface design, created the web site darkpatterns.org to educate users about tricks that web site use. Brignull said that “if you know what cognitive biases are and the kind of tricks that can be used to change your mind to persuade you to do things, then you’re less likely to have them trick you.”
Earlier this year California enacted a law that bans the practice of using dark patterns to hide where users have the option of opting out of sale of their personal data collected from the site.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said that “these protections ensure that consumers will not be confused or misled when seeking to exercise their data privacy rights. The regulations include an eye-catching Privacy Options icon that guides consumers to where they can opt-out of the sale of their personal information.”
Businesses not complying with the law are first given a 30-day warning before being banned.
