Dark Patterns: How Design Manipulates Your Choices

David Morrison
Thursday 9 April 2026

Ever wondered why unsubscribing from mailing lists is so difficult, or why the “Reject all cookies” button is hidden away? That’s not an accident. Dark patterns are design choices used in apps and website interfaces to influence your decisions, keeping you scrolling, clicking and subscribed without necessarily realising it. From subscription traps to infinite scroll, they quietly take advantage of users. They’re everywhere, even in the platforms you use every day. Learn to recognise the most common dark patterns and see how they might manipulate your behaviour.

Keywords

dark patterns, deceptive design, interface design, human-computer interaction

Staff

Rhayssa S. de Oliveira and Dr Dharini Balasubramaniam

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