You are probably already familiar with the feeling of frustration that a ‘dark pattern’ user experience can create. User experience design is is generally thought of as something that is used to offer a positive experience - to improve the ease of use and pleasure in a given interaction with a product (or service). But as advances in technology and web design are made, it is perhaps unsurprising that slick user experience and user interface design can also be leveraged against the user in manipulative ways.

Darkpatterns.org defines these devious patterns as “tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things that you didn't mean to, like buying or signing up for something”. If you have ever ‘accidentally’ purchased travel insurance with Ryan Air when booking a flight - you already know what this is.

To most consumers this is nothing new - psychological tricks have been used forever to mislead us into spending more money than we might have. Strategies like creating an illusion of scarcity or urgency are familiar to us all (phrases like these are commonplace 'only 2 rooms left', 'in high demand', 'limited offer' and 'once its gone its gone!'). These techniques can range from the slightly sneaky to the more devilishly disingenuous, bluring the lines between legal and illegal in some cases.

They say that good user experience design should be invisible, meaning we don’t even notice it. This is the problem in the case of dark patterns, being media savvy and staying wise to deceptive design can often be a full time job. You can see examples from the Darkpatterns.org 'hall of shame' here.