WorkshopsWorkshop Day · 15 September · Additional fee
UX Design

Exploring the Ethics of Dark Patterns in UX Design: Balancing Business Goals with User Trust and Loyalty

September 4, 2023 3:45 PM
Long Lecture
🇬🇧 English
Wisła

About

In this presentation, we will explore the use of dark patterns in UX design and discuss their potential impact on users. We will examine the different types of dark patterns, such as false urgency, sneak into basket, and bait and switch, and discuss their effectiveness in achieving business goals. We will also discuss the ethical implications of using dark patterns and consider how they can undermine user trust and loyalty. Finally, we will offer some tips for designing user experiences that are both effective and ethical, and discuss how designers can balance business goals with user needs and expectations.

Talk by

Photo of Magdalena Błaszczyk, Senior UX Designer at QIAGEN
Magdalena Błaszczyk
Senior UX Designer at QIAGEN

Watch the full talk

Watch this WaysConf session, then continue with related talks or explore the current programme.

Explore the 2026 agendaMore WaysConf recordings
From the recording

Talk in brief

An ethics-focused examination of dark patterns through cases involving social-network invitations, printer subscriptions, and creative-software billing. Each case uses incomplete disclosure, forced action, hidden consequences, or automatic charging to serve a short-term business metric while weakening informed choice. The talk argues that customers can leave, share negative experiences, trigger support and refund costs, or create legal and reputational risk, making manipulative design more expensive than its immediate conversion suggests. Designers can challenge the practice by mapping not only the customer’s emotional journey but also the downstream business journey: complaints, service work, refunds, compliance effort, and lost trust. Evidence from reviews, internal teams, and customer research turns an ethical objection into an operational case.

Key takeaways

  1. 01

    Recognize manipulation when consent is not informed

    A flow becomes deceptive when it uses personal contacts, identity, or defaults for an action the customer did not clearly authorize.

    Watch from 5:30
  2. 02

    Expose consequences before a subscription decision

    Customers cannot make a meaningful choice when cancellation disables remaining supplies or essential features without prominent warning.

    Watch from 13:53
  3. 03

    Show the real price and commitment upfront

    Annual terms, renewal behavior, extra seats, and payment requirements should be visible when the offer is evaluated, not after selection.

    Watch from 18:44
  4. 04

    Treat trust as an economic asset

    Manipulation can produce a local metric gain while increasing churn, negative advocacy, reputation damage, and regulatory exposure.

    Watch from 21:59
  5. 05

    Map downstream business costs of dark patterns

    Complaints, refunds, support load, compliance work, and lost loyalty can outweigh the short-term conversion celebrated at checkout.

    Watch from 25:30
Read edited transcript highlights

These concise notes were edited from automatic captions and checked against the talk structure. They are not a verbatim transcript.

Digital consent should survive an offline comparison

A recommendation invented by a salesperson or a car that stops working after fuel from another station would provoke immediate resistance. Similar mechanisms can feel normal inside software because they are hidden in flows, defaults, and terms. Moving the scenario into a physical setting exposes the ethical issue: the business has used information or control in a way the customer did not reasonably understand.

Watch from 0:43

Growth obtained through another person’s identity is fragile

Uploading contacts can be presented as a way to find existing friends while also enabling invitations to people outside the network. When those messages are sent repeatedly and signed with the uploader’s name, the platform turns a private relationship into an acquisition channel without sufficiently clear permission. The immediate growth opportunity creates embarrassment, complaints, legal exposure, and distrust.

Watch from 5:30

A cancellation warning must arrive before commitment

A customer evaluating a printer plan needs to know if ending it will disable a cartridge that still contains ink or remove accumulated page allowances. Placing that consequence in a frequently asked questions page or revealing it only during cancellation does not support informed choice. Transparent design presents material restrictions where the customer compares the offer, before payment and dependence begin.

Watch from 13:53

The attractive monthly figure may conceal the actual contract

Creative-software offers can emphasize a low monthly price while requiring an annual commitment, stored payment details, automatic renewal, or paid collaborator seats. Experienced customers may know to search for those conditions, but the interface should not depend on suspicion. Price, duration, renewal, cancellation, and role-based charges belong together at the point where the plan is selected.

Watch from 18:44

A dark pattern continues costing money after conversion

A business may celebrate the extra item or subscription captured during checkout, while the customer later contacts support, requests a refund, posts a warning, or leaves entirely. Mapping the business journey alongside the customer journey makes those delayed effects visible. Designers can gather evidence from service, marketing, legal, analytics, reviews, and interviews to compare the short-term gain with its complete operational cost.

Watch from 25:30
Explore WaysConf 2026

View the agenda

Get tickets