Dark patterns

A dark pattern is an interface design technique that deliberately manipulates the user into performing an action they would not have chosen if fully informed: taking out a subscription without seeing it, sharing their data without really consenting, or making unsubscribing almost impossible. The term was formalised by Harry Brignull in 2010. These practices exploit users' cognitive biases and lapses in attention.

Among the most widespread: the roach motel (easy sign-up, laborious unsubscription), confirmshaming (a refusal option worded in a guilt-inducing way: « No thanks, I don't want to save money »), sneak into basket (automatically adding paid options to the basket), bait and switch (promising one thing and delivering another), and cookie banners designed to push consent by default. The CNIL and the European DSA regulation now regulate several of these practices.

Ethical design is the systemic response to dark patterns. Where dark patterns maximise a metric to the detriment of the user (subscription rate, data sharing), ethical design aligns the product's aims with the users' real interests. A product designed ethically can still perform well commercially: trust and transparency are more durable long-term loyalty levers than short-term manipulation.

Some now are. The European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) has explicitly banned dark patterns for very large platforms since 2024. The GDPR strictly regulates consent-gathering practices that exploit cognitive biases. In France, the CNIL has sanctioned companies for manipulative cookie banners. The regulatory trend is clearly towards restriction, which makes detecting and eliminating them urgent for product teams.

By carrying out an intentional-friction audit: you go through the critical flows (sign-up, unsubscription, privacy settings, purchase process) asking, for each step, whether the user has all the information they need to make an informed choice. You can also use existing references (deceptive.design lists hundreds of examples) and ask external users to complete these flows while thinking aloud.