design ethics

Design ethics quiz

Test your grip on design ethics in UX. Read each definition and name the term; this quiz leads with the design ethics entries and rounds out with a few from across the glossary. Every question comes from the live entries, so it grows as the glossary does.

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The quiz needs JavaScript to keep score. You can still browse every entry and try the demos - each one teaches its term by letting you do it.

Revise the design ethics terms first

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 plan to make - for the business’s gain, 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.
Preselection: Preselection is choosing for the user in your own favour, hoping they don’t notice - a pre-ticked opt-in, an extra already in the basket, or the pricier plan selected by default. It exploits the same inertia that makes good defaults helpful, but directs it to benefit the business instead of the user.
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.
Sneaking: Sneaking is a deceptive pattern that hides, disguises or delays information the user would object to, revealing it only once they're committed. Extra items slipped into a basket, fees that appear at the final step, or a subscription buried in a "free" sign-up all work by withholding the bad news until backing out feels too costly.
Fake scarcity: Fake scarcity is a manufactured shortage - like 'only 2 left!' Or 'low stock!' - used to push you into buying, even though the number has no real basis and never actually runs out. It mimics the urgency of real scarcity but lies about the facts, so the pressure is artificial, not honest. You can see this tactic in action on this page through the interactive demo.
Trick wording: Trick wording is a deceptive pattern that phrases choices so confusingly that people end up doing the opposite of what they intend. Double negatives, mismatched checkboxes, and deliberately ambiguous labels trip users up - like "uncheck this box if you do not want to not receive emails" - so that not reading carefully lands them where the company wants, not where they meant to go.
Fake urgency: Fake urgency is a deadline that’s not real - a countdown timer that resets when you reload, or an 'offer ends today' that stays there every day. It’s designed to rush you into deciding before you’ve thought it through by mimicking a genuine time limit, but it’s attached to nothing, so the pressure is pure theatre.
Forced continuity: Forced continuity happens when a free trial automatically turns into a paid subscription. Payment info is collected upfront, and billing starts immediately after the trial ends - often without clear warning or a timely prompt. The trial is real; the trick is the lack of notice about the switch to paying.
Nagging: Nagging is a deceptive pattern that wears people down with repeated, interrupting requests until they give in. The permission prompt that returns every visit, the "rate us" pop-up that won't take no, the constant push to upgrade - each "not now" is treated as "ask again later", so persistence substitutes for consent.
Fake social proof: Fake social proof is fabricated evidence that others are buying, watching, or endorsing something - such as fake '37 people are viewing this right now' counters, shallow reviews, or 'just purchased' popups - designed to mimic the persuasive power of real social proof when no real audience exists. It substitutes the authentic signal that real social proof delivers.
Obstruction: Obstruction is a deceptive pattern that intentionally makes a task harder than it needs to be, to discourage people from completing it. The classic case is the easy-to-start, painful-to-cancel subscription: signing up takes one click, but leaving means phone calls, hunting for hidden links, retention mazes and confirmation after confirmation - friction added on purpose.
Forced action: Forced action is a deceptive pattern that makes you do something unrelated before you can do the thing you actually came for. Forcing account creation to read an article, demanding data or permissions you don't need, or making you watch an ad or complete a survey to continue - the wanted task is held hostage to an unwanted one.
Disguised ads: Disguised ads are adverts that mimic content or interface elements, so users click them thinking they’re something else. Like a fake 'Download' button beside the real one, or an ad styled to look like a search result or article - all deliberately blur the line between editorial and paid, on purpose.
Comparison prevention: Comparison prevention is a deceptive pattern that makes it hard to weigh options against each other, so you can't easily tell which is the better deal. Prices quoted in different units, key terms hidden or varied between tiers, and missing or inconsistent information all stop people doing the simple side-by-side maths that would reveal the best choice.
Visual interference: Visual interference is a deceptive pattern that uses styling - colour, contrast, size, placement - to steer you toward the choice the company wants and away from the one you'd choose. The bright, prominent "Accept all" beside a greyed-out, tiny "Reject", or the option you want buried in low contrast, all manipulate the visual hierarchy to manufacture a "preference".
Currency confusion: Currency confusion is a deceptive pattern that puts a layer of invented currency - coins, gems, credits - between you and real money, so you lose track of what you're actually spending. Buying the fake currency in odd bundles, pricing items in it, and breaking the one-to-one link with pounds all blur the true cost of a purchase.
Addictive design: Addictive design is the intentional crafting of compulsion - layering psychological triggers like variable rewards, infinite scroll, autoplay, streaks and social validation so users engage more than they intend and struggle to stop. It prioritises time-on-app and engagement over the user’s own goals and wellbeing.
Bait and switch: Bait and switch means advertising one thing but delivering another - for example, a button that promises a free download but leads to a sign-up wall. 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 privacy controls behind confusing language and extra clicks. Named after a certain founder, it presumes consent without ever asking for it.