Designed to Deceive – Mobile and Web Dark Patterns

Newsletters – mostly from the brands desperately trying to make a sell have started to put “Re: lorem ipsum ” in the subject of the mailers. Unconsciously, I have clicked on these Re: mails only to close them without reading – knowing that I fell for it one more time.

Is it ethnical to prey on the user’s behavior and make them do the unintended?

Dark Patterns have existed on the web for long. The most common of all is the “Defaults” that user don’t bother to change in their quest to complete the task.

When was the last time you installed a browser plugin when installing another software?

DARK PATTERN DEFAULTING

 

 

I plan to put more example from the world of mobile in the future. Godaddy, definitely tops my  list. Buying a domain isn’t just searching and paying for it. It is making a conscious decision not to buy the other offers and finding “Skip to checkout” hidden in sides and bottom. The mobile experience is definitely better than the web.

What is the most annoying pattern who have encountered on mobile?

Some from the world of twitter #darkpatterns

Spot the close button

Google has changed the ad positioning in gmail and the ads look like a email in your inbox. Does the advertiser get value from this? Shouldn’t the user make a conscious decision to click on the ad. Atleast, it says with a color tag! – subtle

How many ads are clicked by the users across the globe thinking that its a mail? I would bet its many.

Thanks to google we have a suite of productivity solutions ensuring atleast one tab in your browser that has google products open.  Even die hard Microsoft fans would agree, Google Docs rocks!!

Is this good design or the sinister side of UX practioners?

Ads-on-Gmail

 

Read more:

A old article from 2011, http://alistapart.com/article/dark-patterns-deception-vs.-honesty-in-ui-design will help you understand how it all got started.


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