Web sites continue to use “dark patterns”: interfaces designed to deceive

For more than five years, Harry Brinul (Harry Brignull), an independent user interface designer from London, has been collecting a unique collection of DarkPatterns.org - the so-called dark patterns - real examples of how professionals use specific web design techniques to trick Internet users and encourage them to the "necessary" actions. For example, coercion to buy unnecessary goods or go to the advertising link.

The Dark Patterns collection is not a design error at all, quite the opposite. This is the result of the work of competent professionals who consciously apply their skills for unscrupulous purposes. They may call this an “effective design” or “selling site,” but the point is in manipulating for the sake of profit.

Unfortunately, recently some sites have returned to these dirty tricks. This is illustrated by the example of the online newspaper Boston Globe , which, due to the crisis in the media market, resorted to tricks to increase the number of paid subscribers.

Suppose you open the “ Open Letter to Bernie Sanders ” article.
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A pop-up window appears asking you to subscribe. A small trick is used here: the “Close” button is drawn with a very slightly contrasting background, so it is difficult to notice. In addition, it is moved to a non-standard left upper corner. The developers expect that some users will not notice the button and subscribe.

If you still click "Close", the manipulation continues.





At the bottom of the page a well-visible non-removable banner pops up, again with a proposal to issue a paid subscription. Again, this banner itself is annoying, but quite acceptable. However, the text says that a subscription costs "only 99 cents a week," but this is not true, as we will see below.

Follow the link Subscribe Now .





Here it becomes clear that 99 cents a week is not a real price. Commercial companies often offer a discount when connecting to a service or at the beginning of a subscription, this is normal. The problem is that the Boston Globe does not indicate the real price at all, which it will begin to take in four weeks. This is misleading the user.

If you click Sign Up , we will see even more dark patterns.







The page shows the amount that will be removed for the first month ($ 3.96). The real price is listed below in small print. It is selected in such a way ($ 3.99 per week) in order not to differ much from the stated red price, so that the user doesn’t immediately think that the price increases significantly: the countdown goes not by months but by weeks. In addition, to the left of the user, by default, they subscribe to three marketing campaigns.

At the next subscription stages, the real value is no longer shown once. To learn it, you need to go to the FAQ section of the small link on the right side of the page.





Among the questions about crosswords, obituaries and horoscopes, the question “How much does a subscription to the digital version cost” is hidden.





It states that the real price is not at all $ 0.99 per week, as it was in an advertisement, and not even $ 3.99 per week, as reported on the subscription page, but ... $ 6.93 per week! Almost twice as expensive or seven times more than on an advertising banner. This price takes effect only after a year, so it will be difficult for an ordinary subscriber to notice that more money has been withdrawn from the account, if only he does not study bank statements in detail. Very competent reception!

And finally, the last move. If the user still noticed something was wrong and tried to unsubscribe, then a small surprise awaits him.





You can contact the editorial office via email or online chat, but you can only unsubscribe by phone (probably after a long wait on the paid line), while money will continue to be debited from the account until the end of the current “four-week period”.

Unfortunately, these and other dark patterns are often found on quite respectable and decent sites, including Russian ones. So you can increase sales in the short term, but in the long term, they damage the reputation of the brand.

On the Dark Patterns website, all types of manipulative web design techniques are categorized.