A Dark Pattern is a type of user interface that has been carefully crafted to trick users into doing things, such as buying insurance with their purchase or signing up for recurring bills.
Normally when you think of “bad design”, you think of the creator as being sloppy or lazy but with no ill intent. This type of bad design is known as a “UI anti-pattern” Dark Patterns are different – 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.
Watch the slidecast below for details:
- A presentation on Dark Patterns for Brand Owners (Harry Brignull, Madgex Innovations Event, 2010)
- A presentation on Dark Patterns for Designers (Harry Brignull, UX Brighton 2010)
- Two initial discussion about Dark Patterns (with great comments) 1 and 2 (Y Combinator’s Hacker News).
- The Dark Patterns initiative was set up by Harry Brignull an independent User Experience consultant based out of Brighton, England. This site is managed by Marc Miquel.