Dark Patterns on the Road to Hell

When Milton Glaser wrote "12 Steps on the Graphic Designer's Road to Hell" it was pre-internet. I think it's safe to say designing dark patterns would certainly be worthy of a place on the list.Dark patterns are hidden design elements that are added to websites and apps to make you buy or sign up for things. Not unlike designing a package to look bigger on a shelf or a promotion for a product you know does not work.They can be implemented in a variety of ways:

• Bait and Switch
• Confirmshaming
• Disguised Ads
• Forced Continuity
• Friend Spam
• Hidden Costs
• Misdirection
• Privacy Zuckering
• Roach Motel
• Sneak into Basket
• Trick Questions

In his book, Evil by Design, author Chris Nodder compares dark patterns to the 7 deadly sins and organizes the content as such, ie. Envy: Create a culture of status around your product and feed aspirational desires.As consumers, we probably recognize many of these tricks. As graphic designers, how often have we helped create them? There is a fine line between influencing user behavior and tricking people. As a graphic designer its important to understand the difference. It's also important in a practical sense as Google may penalize websites with "intrusive interstitials" and subsequently your client's search engine optimization rating.In a recent article about avoiding dark patters on the web published by SpeckyBoy, author Stephen Moyers asks designers to avoid dark patterns at all costs. If you think something is unethical and falls into a dark pattern category, take a different route.https://darkpatterns.org/https://evilbydesign.info/https://speckyboy.com/ethics-ui-design-avoiding-dark-patterns/https://medium.com/adventures-in-ux-design/dark-patterns-and-the-ethics-of-design-31853436176b