Design ethics quiz

The design ethics entries in the glossary, in brief. Open any one for the interactive demo behind it.

Dark patterns

Interface tricks that nudge you toward choices you didn’t intend to make - for the business’s benefit, not yours.

Confirmshaming

Confirmshaming is wording the opt-out to make declining feel foolish, guilty, or cheap - 'No thanks, I'd rather pay full price.' The choice remains; the shame is the thumb on the scale.

Roach motel

A roach motel is a flow that’s easy to join but deliberately hard to leave - one click to subscribe, a hidden maze to cancel. The asymmetry is the trick: friction only ever runs one way.

Preselection

Preselection is choosing for the user in your own favour and hoping they don't notice - a pre-ticked opt-in, an extra already in the basket, the pricier plan selected by default. It weaponises the same inertia that makes good defaults helpful, but points it at the business's interest instead of the user's.

Fake scarcity

Fake scarcity is a made-up shortage - "only 2 left!", "low stock!" - shown to pressure you into buying, when the number reflects nothing real and never actually runs out. It borrows the genuine urgency of true scarcity but lies about the facts, so the pressure is manufactured rather than honest.

Forced continuity

Forced continuity is a free trial that converts to a paid subscription without clear warning - the card is charged upfront, and payment triggers instantly when the trial ends. The trial was real; the trick is the silence around the charge.

Fake urgency

Fake urgency is a deadline that isn't real - a countdown timer that resets when you reload, an "offer ends today" that's there every day - shown to rush you into deciding before you've thought it through. It mimics a genuine time limit but is attached to nothing, so the pressure is pure theatre.

Fake social proof

Fake social proof is invented evidence that other people are buying, watching or endorsing something - "37 people are viewing this right now", fabricated reviews, a fake "just purchased" popup - manufactured to borrow the persuasive weight of the crowd when no real crowd exists. It counterfeits the genuine signal that real social proof carries.

Bait and switch

Bait and switch is advertising one thing and delivering another - a button that promises a free download and hands you a sign-up wall instead. The bait gets the click; the switch is what actually happens.

Drip pricing

Drip pricing advertises a low headline price, then reveals mandatory fees one at a time as you move through checkout - a booking fee here, a service charge there - so the real total only appears at the very end, when you're least likely to leave.

Privacy zuckering

Privacy zuckering tricks users into sharing more than they intend by defaulting settings to 'share', hiding private options behind confusing language and extra clicks. Named after a certain founder, it assumes consent without ever asking for it.