Persuasive Design and Dark Patterns
The task of designing something means that the designer thinks about the thing he is designing and how it caters the user and about the impact the designed thing will have on human behavior. No design is bare of a reason. Design is not free from a certain reason for which it was conceived. Research on persuasive design highlights it´s potential benefits for behavioural change, if that is good for the receiver and environment or just for the company is an ethical question.
There are seven persuasive strategies defined bei Fogg: reduction, tunneling, tailoring, suggestion, self-monitoring, surveillance, and conditioning.
Speaking of ethical concerns, there are four key principles to consider:
- Dual-privacy
- Disclosure
- Accuracy
- The “golden” principle
UX design is not specifically driven by persuasive intent, however, persuasive intent must be recognised as inherent in all design activities. Consequently, dark patterns observed in UX practice may reflect these strategies but deviate from their original purpose and ethical standards.
Let´s recall types of Dark Patterns, to understand the differnce to persuasive and ethically correct pattern. The naming of the dark pattern already indicates that they are manipulative.
- Bait and Switch: Misleading intentions leading to undesirable outcomes.
- Disguised Ad: Ads masked as content or navigation.
- Forced Continuity: Silent credit card charges post free trials without warning.
- Friend Spam: Misuse of email or social permissions for spamming contacts.
- Hidden Costs: Unexpected charges revealed late in the checkout process.
- Misdirection: Diverting attention from one aspect to conceal another.
- Price Comparison Prevention: Hindering price comparison for informed choices.
- Privacy Zuckering: Tricking users into oversharing personal information.
- Roach Motel: Easy access but difficult exit from a situation (e.g., subscriptions).
- Sneak into Basket: Secretly adding items during the purchasing journey.
- Trick Questions: Misleading questions requiring careful attention for clarity.
The difference between dark patterns and persuasive design strategies is mainly the intentions of the favoured outcome. Dark patterns are ignoring user rights and whats best for the human beeing but just a benefit for some stakeholders. The intention of the manipulation is that users are not able to understand or fully explore all options for action.They act “blindly”. The intented action is forced by nagging and empasising the desired action to lead the user to the desired outcome. The strategy of secrecy prevents to show all possible options and actions and forces users to react to the system rather than act conciously.
On the other hand, persuasive design strategies, as proposed by Fogg and others, aim to influence user behaviour, but with ethical considerations in mind.
- Reduction and Tunneling: Guides users, but within the scope of their interests, similar to forced action and obstruction (Dark Pattern).
- Tailoring and Suggestion: which aim to guide users on the basis of their preferences without forcing them to act against their interest. It is similar to interface interference (Dark Pattern).
- Conditioning: This refers to strategies such as secrecy or nagging (dark patterns) that may influence behaviour, but for user interest reasons. [1]
Other studies have created guidelines for persuasive interfaces. The developed checklist was created with examination of 164 documents associated with technological persuasion (for document specifics, refer to Némery, 2012). With this reaserch they were able to identify and organize primary elements of persuasion. Those form the basis of the guidelines, declining eight persuasive criteria and 23 sub-criteria. The eight basic criteria, which are divided into static and dynamic aspects, are intended to improve the awareness and evaluation of persuasive elements in interfaces.
Interactions with computers are often combarable with human interactions. The computer can build trust in a similar way to interpersonal relationships. The interactive system can evoke emotional involvement in repeated interactions. Through the use of formal and polite language, computers can act as social support units or teammates, assuming roles such as coach, co-operation partner or symbiotic assistant, depending on the context (Nass, Fogg, & Moon, 1996). Therfore some static criteria, static means that they are basic and not lightly influenced by other factors, are the same like we like in a human beeing: credibility, privacy, personalization, and attractiveness.
Credibility is the most important criteria and is based on the information the interface provides. It is also influenced by a company or the reputation of a company. Example: Testimonials, or showing logos of partners and clients, which are global players.
Privacy refers to the protection of personal data, but also to integrity. It should be provided by detailed information on data protection and security, but not in formal words but easy to access content.
Personalisation means, users can adapt the interface to their preferences, which should increase loyalty to the product. That could mean addressing users by their name, eaven more personal and friendshiplike by using the first name.
Attractiveness is created through an aesthetically pleasing and modern UI design. It should attract the users’ attention, involve them by evoking positive feelings and make it easier for them to take certain actions. It also means that the interface has nice images, animations and appropriate colours.
There are also four dynamic criteria. Dynamic means that those criteria are showing during an interactive process. They are not basic, they are temporarily.
Solicitation initiates relationship and dialogue with the user, making suggestions or special offers.
Priming encourages users to take the next step, like call-to action Buttons with the pressuring do something NOW. That also includes the distinction between primary and secondary buttons, which guides users through an interface.
Commitment involves and motivates users with rewards and positive feedback to encourage to repeat a certain action and shows achievements.
Ascendency has potential for addiction. It means suggestions for irresistible interaction and tension release, like last item available.
[1] Colin M. Gray, Yubo Kou, Bryan Battles, Joseph Hoggatt, and Austin L. Toombs. 2018. The Dark (Patterns) Side of UX Design. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’18). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Paper 534, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174108
[2] Némery, Alexandra, and Eric Brangier. “Set of Guidelines for Persuasive Interfaces: Organization and Validation of the Criteria.” Journal of Usability Studies 9, no. 3 (2014).
