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(Don’t) Join the Dark Side: An Initial Analysis and Classification of Regular, Anti-, and Dark Patterns

Authors:
Alexander G. Mirnig
Manfred Tscheligi

Keywords: basics on patterns; design patterns; anti-patterns; dark patterns

Abstract:
Patterns describe proven solutions to reoccurring problems. Anti-patterns describe solutions, which are proven not to work for solving reoccurring problems. Both concepts are well understood, documented, and employed in several different disciplines. Another, more obscure pattern concept, is that of “dark patterns”. Dark patterns describe solutions used to trick users and are often considered to be anti-patterns. In this paper, we show that dark patterns have a different status and focus. Depending on the circumstances, a dark pattern can either be a regular pattern or an anti-pattern. Treating and documenting a dark pattern in the same way as a regular or anti-pattern could result in making malicious solutions easy to access and reproduce. We provide a review and delineation criteria for regular patterns, anti-patterns, and dark patterns in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). This enables a more reflected knowledge transfer via patterns and protection of users from malicious designs.

Pages: 65 to 71

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2017

Publication date: February 19, 2017

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-3557

ISBN: 978-1-61208-534-0

Location: Athens, Greece

Dates: from February 19, 2017 to February 23, 2017