Dark Patterns vs. User Trust

🚨 Dark Patterns in UX: Why They Hurt More Than They Help Dark patterns are tricks in design that make users do things they didn’t intend—like signing up for paid plans without warning or accidentally sharing more data than they wanted. While they may deliver short-term gains, the long-term impact is clear: 🚫 users lose trust and switch to more ethical products. Some common dark patterns to watch out for: 🚫 Forced continuity → free trial quietly turns into a paid subscription 🚫 Roach motel → easy to sign up, painful to cancel 🚫 Sneak into basket → hidden items added at checkout 🚫 Deliberate misdirection → focusing attention on costly options, hiding cheaper ones 🚫 Privacy zuckering → tricking users into oversharing personal data Instead of relying on tricks, build trust. Be transparent about pricing, make cancellation as easy as sign-up, and respect user privacy. In the long run, ethical design wins loyalty. 🖼️ Dark Patterns by Krisztina Szerovay #UX #design #productdesign #uxdesign #UI #uidesign

Dark patterns boost this quarter’s metrics—then bill you next quarter’s trust. I’ve been tracking the fallout from the “growth hacks” that probably felt like cracking some secret code until the process servers start showing. The pattern is eerily consistent across industries. Take Amazon’s internal “Project Iliad”—named after Homer’s epic about a decade-long war. (Flair for drama, much?) The FTC alleges Amazon designed a complex cancellation process to deter Prime subscribers from unsubscribing, using what the agency described only slightly hyperbolically as a “four-page, six-click, fifteen-option cancellation process.” Amazon’s case is still working through federal court. Then there’s Epic Games—hit with $245 million in refunds for using dark patterns that tricked Fortnite players into unwanted purchases. The FTC distributed $72 million in December 2024 and another $126 million in June 2025 to affected users. But the bigger shift? Regulators aren’t just slapping wrists anymore. The UK’s DMCC Act—in effect since April 6, 2025—now allows the CMA to impose fines up to 10% of global annual turnover for consumer law breaches—putting dark patterns within range of antitrust violations. Here’s what teams ship when they think they’re being clever: → Roach motels: Easy to get in, maze to get out → Drip pricing: When the $19 advertised price becomes $47 at checkout → Fake urgency: Countdowns that reset every hour → Hidden exits: Burying free/cheaper plans and the $0 tip option But there’s a bigger cost: 👎🏼 Short-term conversion bumps followed by support ticket floods 👎🏼 Refund programs that dwarf the original “gains” 👎🏼 Legal exposure that makes product-market fit irrelevant 👎🏼 Brand damage that takes years to repair The most efficient teams I’ve worked with ask one question before shipping: “Would users choose this if everything were perfectly transparent?” Swipe below for ethical alternatives that also simply work better long-term. If you’re banking on dark patterns helping you to hit your numbers, then you don’t have a conversion problem—you have a value problem. Comment “DARK UX” if you want me to send you this PDF. I’m curious: What’s the last dark UX you encountered that made you question a brand’s integrity? #ethicaldesign #uxdesign #darkpatterns #designethics #darkux ⸻ 👋🏼 Hi, I’m Dane—your source for UX and career tips. ❤️ Was this helpful? A 👍🏼 would be thuper kewl. 🔄 Share to help others (or for easy access later). ➕ Follow for more like this in your feed every day.

What happens when an AI company's "privacy-first" promise collides with its relentless need for training data? 😢 This week, Claude users have until September 28 to actively opt out of sharing their conversations for AI training. If they don't, their chats become model-fodder for the next five years. Yikes. But the real story isn’t the policy—it’s the design. A big, bright “Accept” button greets users. The opt-out? Small, greyed-out, and pre-checked “On.” A textbook dark pattern. It’s a reminder that product design reveals intent. That tiny toggle shows whose interests come first. True opt-in (the kind I expected from Anthropic to be honest) could've looked like “Help us build the future of AI—here’s how we’ll protect you.” Where users are treated as partners, not products. The lesson for everyone? The winners of the AI era won’t be those with clever dark patterns, but those who design for trust. If you're building an AI product, how are you making your users feel like collaborators, not commodities?

Let's talk about dark/deceptive patterns... It's a term coined in 2010 by Harry Brignull to describe when user interfaces are crafted to trick users into doing things. Brignull wanted to recognize the negative impact these manipulative patterns had on users and expose the unethical practices, educate the public, and foster a more transparent digital landscape. How often do we examine our own work for these patterns? Are we teaching the next up and coming generation of designers and technologist how to identify and avoid these patterns? Do we know how to identify them? This morning I was purchasing a holiday gift, quickly trying to complete an online transaction before I tackled my laundry list of items (as I expect many experience this time of year.) As I entered my credit card information into the web form, I paused briefly, as there was a section for "Add Tip". Mind you, this is an e-commerce store. I continued entering my credit card information and took one last look at the form, when I noticed that the "Custom Tip" field was pre-populated with a $7.49 amount. 😱 Dark/Deceptive pattern indeed. So what makes this a dark pattern? 1. Users don't typically expect to see an "Add Tip" field when shopping an e-commerce site, as this not a common practice online or in retail stores. (It is a practice within the service industry or when working directly with people.) 2. A custom default was created by the company and not made obvious to the user. 3. The user had to proactively select "None" to remove the tip that was added by the company. 4. (not pictured) The itemized bill was collapsed, so to not show the user that the price had increased and a tip was added. As we roll into the busy holiday season, which is quickly followed by open enrollment for insurance and then tax season, it's important that users/consumers watch out for these patterns. And it's even more important that we as designers/technologist educate ourselves and practice ethical design. You can learn more about dark/deceptive patterns here: https://lnkd.in/gcZviv28 (I've purposely left out the company name, but trust that they are receiving feedback from me.) #darkpatterns #deceptivepatterns #uxdesign #uidesign #ecommerce

🔮💻 Have you ever been tricked online into doing something you didn't initially intend? Maybe you ended up subscribing to an email newsletter you didn't want or found yourself unable to easily cancel a subscription. If so, you've been a victim of what's known as 'Dark Patterns' in User Experience (UX) Design. 🕸️🎭 Dark Patterns are deceptive techniques used in websites and apps, deliberately designed to make users do things they wouldn't typically choose to do. This could be anything from signing up for recurring bills, making it difficult to delete an account, or surreptitiously adding items to your shopping cart. While these techniques might increase short-term metrics (like conversion rates), they do so at the expense of user trust and long-term customer loyalty. It's just like a mouse trap for every user.📉👥 As UX designers, it is our responsibility to advocate for the user and ensure that we are designing ethically. This means prioritizing transparency, honesty, and respect in our designs. 👩💻🔎🎨 Next time you're designing an interface, ask yourself: 1️⃣ Is this choice architecture helping users make the best decision for them, or is it pushing them towards a decision that benefits the business? 2️⃣ Are we making it easy for users to understand what they're opting into? 3️⃣ Are we respecting users' time and attention? I challenge you to be part of the solution, to use your design skills to create experiences that respect and empower the users, not manipulate them. 💪🌟 Share your thoughts below on how you ensure ethical decision-making in your design process! Let's learn from each other and collectively make the digital world a better place. 🌐🤝💬 #uxdesign #darkpatterns #ethicsindesign #design #designcommunity

At what point did marketing turn into a psychological game of deception? I found myself fighting an unsubscribe page recently... you know, the one with the super tiny grey text, tricky toggles, and a final guilt trip: "Are you sure you want to miss out?" Honestly? I wasn’t sure if I was unsubscribing or subscribing again. And that’s the freaking problem. Marketing was never meant to be a game of tricking people into staying, clicking, or buying. Yet we see it everywhere. 🤬 Dark patterns in UX that make canceling harder than signing up 🤬 FOMO-driven messaging that preys on insecurity 🤬 “Social good” marketing that’s more about optics than impact (looking at you, brands, that jumped on the BLM movement just to go back to business as usual) 🤬 My all-time favorite (read: sarcasm)... clickbait marketing 🤬 Last but not least... engagement-driven outrage where marketers have learned that divisive content = more clicks As marketers, we need to ask if we are actually building trust... or are we breaking people down? I get that marketers have KPIs to reach but at what cost? Do we really want to feed the social media beast with more anxiety-inducing activities? Social is already having a mental wellness crisis, so why not take a community-first attitude to create safe places where we can connect with our audiences? This is what I think we should be prioritizing: ✅ Transparency > Manipulation Clear pricing, honest messaging, and ETHICAL persuasion. It's not hard. And consumers aren't dumb despite what some unethical marketers think. ✅ Real Community > Viral Moments Sure. Cultural marketing is fun But lasting impact matters more than a one-hit-wonder tweet IMO. (looking at you 🫡 Oreo Superbowl Blackout Tweet of 2013.... I guarantee only marketers remember this moment. NOT consumers. Don't get it twisted) ✅ Long-Term Trust > Short-Term Gains If your marketing strategy hinges on confusion, it's already failing. Marketing is powerful. I think we can collectively choose to use that power responsibly if we can stop chasing these quick wins. #MentalHealth #TrustOverClicks #CommunityFirst

UX has a dark side: Deceptive patterns—UI patterns intentionally designed to deceive or confuse users for the purpose of helping the company achieve its own goal, without delivering value to the user or respecting their trust. Here, we see a simple on-off switch for a cookie consent dialog. But what is on, and what is off? In the Apple HIG, and Google’s Material Design, the switch is on when it’s flipped to the right. And the user gets further confirmation that the switch is on, by adding a color to the switch’s track. But this switch does the opposite of industry leaders—and it does so in a way that can conceivably deceive users into consenting to the use of trackers collecting their information, when they think they’re opting out. Companies believe decisions like this are beneficial to the business, but this actually increases the risk of the company getting sued—and lawsuits about this kind of thing happen often. Having clear, easy to understand design isn’t just beneficial to the users, it protects the business, as well.

EU fined Google $3. 5 billions for using design to limit user choices Here is what we can learn from it, ✅ Defaults are not neutral Default is one of the most powerful design decisions. We have a responsibility to use this power ethically, not to eliminate competition and user freedom. ✅ Advocate for true choice Make designs that empower users to make their own decisions easily. ✅ Be ethical Users expect honest results when they search, not disguised ads. ✅ Don't use Dark Patterns Dark patterns aren't just confusing buttons. They can be entire ecosystems designed to lock and deceive users. You get quick wins but lose customers forever. As designers, we're literally shaping how millions of people interact with technology every day. That's a huge responsibility! Our role is to design experiences that are not just easy, but also honest 🫶🏻 PS: How you think we can balance business goals with ethical design?

#30DaysOfGRC - 1 Most people think they’re in control of their data because they clicked “Accept.” But what if the design of that button was never meant to give them a real choice? That’s the power of dark patterns, subtle tricks in interface design that nudge users into sharing more than they intended. Tiny things. A grayed-out opt-out box. A pre-selected checkbox buried in a paragraph. A popup that makes “No” harder to find than “Yes.” This isn’t just a design problem. It’s a governance problem. When teams are pressured to hit engagement numbers or drive data collection, the ethical line gets blurry. You can technically be compliant and still exploit user behavior. Now layer that with consent fatigue, the endless cookie banners, privacy popups, and setting toggles that show up everywhere. People get tired. They stop reading. They click just to move on. And that’s where privacy fails. Good governance means designing systems that prioritize real choice. It means looking at how data is collected, not just what the law says, but what’s fair and transparent. If you want to build trust, start by removing the friction from doing the right thing. #grc #dataprivacy #aigovernance #privacyengineering #cybersecurity #techpolicy #uxethics #darkpatterns #30daychallenge #complianceculture #governancework