Mitigating dark patterns through responsible design - ethical design considerations for user-centred technologies

Abstract

Every digital interface is the result of intentions, incentives, and design philosophies. They can lead to user-friendly and empowering technologies or exploiting and manipulative ones that persuade users into engaging in actions they may regret later. The past decade of HCI research has explored the latter phenomenon, describing them as deceptive design strategies or "dark patterns". In this vein, studies have fostered a growing taxonomy of related instances in various domains.

These existing findings offer space for synthesised frameworks and open avenues for transdisciplinary work. Moreover, underlying mechanisms of dark patterns have yet to be studied to grasp their implications on users. Extracted knowledge can lead to the development of tools to understand dark patterns better and mitigate their effects.

Addressing these gaps and drawing from a series of qualitative and quantitative research studies, included in this cumulative thesis, its contributions are threefold: It explores dark patterns in SNS and adds domain-specific types to the related scholarship. It describes users' perception of dark patterns and spotlights difficulties in protecting themselves from nefarious SNS and CUI interfaces. Lastly, it contributes to design theory by revealing where dark patterns manifest and how responsible design can be used to mitigate them. Together, the contributions span the three angles – design, users, and guidelines – of the Responsible Design Triangle. This model reflects the interrelationships and dependencies between the angles.