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by Viker 2684 days ago
Dark patterns are still patterns!

They key is consistency. Please leave your morals at the door.

2 comments

The tutorial simply says to pick the one that's "more correct". There's nothing that indicates consistency should be valued more highly than ethics -- or any other possible ordering of design priorities.
I have been a designer for 10+ years, when you ask me “which is more correct” I’d always go for the option where skip is also a blue button.

Good design is not just consistent patterns, but also clear communications. This is the design equivalent of fraudulent small print in a contract. This is saying to the user: you have two options, but one is rather silly, don’t go for it.

In that regard: weighting and sorting options by how often they are used is good design (because it reduces the communicative friction in everyday life).

Making the (from a privacy standpoint) better option seem like no real alternative option is increasing the friction for some and manipulating others into not choosing at all. Like a car that warns you about steering right while it praises you for steering left, although both should be equal options.

Bad design, because it is bad communication.

Yes. Again all true. But as a product designer your job is usually to make the product in the most cost efficient way for the company, not the user. So implementing design in a way that is also part of the product strategy is good design!

The same way IKEA stores are designed to keep you furthest away from the exits. Designing that in a good way is much harder than simply designing a system where the user has to make educated guesses.