Dark Patterns
Manipulative design in technology — how interfaces are built to trick you into decisions you wouldn't otherwise make.
What Are Dark Patterns?
In 2010, UX designer Harry Brignull coined the term 'dark patterns' to describe user interface designs that trick people into doing things they didn't intend — like buying insurance, signing up for recurring payments, or giving up personal data.
Dark patterns are persuasion techniques weaponized through interface design. They exploit the same cognitive biases that legitimate persuasion uses — but they do so against the user's interest, without transparency, and often without the user's awareness.
The key distinction: a well-designed interface makes the user's desired action easy. A dark pattern makes the company's desired action easy and the user's desired action hard. When you can't find the 'unsubscribe' button but the 'upgrade' button is enormous and glowing — that's a dark pattern.
Brignull identified several major categories, and researchers have since expanded the taxonomy. The European Union's Digital Services Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act, and the FTC have all begun targeting dark patterns in regulation, signaling that the line between persuasion and deception in digital design is increasingly a legal question, not just an ethical one.