Dark Patterns: Privacy UX and boundaries of online manipulation

The way online services are designed is never neutral: social media, e-commerce websites, travel booking services, dating apps, and streaming platforms all use strategies to make users spend money and time, and disclose personal details.

Some of these strategies are legitimate marketing tools that augment conversion rates. But many others are illegal and unethical: these are best known as dark patterns.

18.00: community check-in (let’s catch up before the event, it’s been a while since we last met!)
18.30: Interactive exploration of Dark Patterns
19.15: Signatu Cookie Consent Banner solution
19.30: virtual apéro (bring your own beer/wine/cocktail)

– Where is the boundary between legitimate and illegitimate designs of online interfaces and user experiences?
– Which design aspects are governed by existing regulations (with a focus on the GDPR)?
– How might we recognize and avoid dark patterns?
– How do dark patterns harm people, companies and societies?

We’ll answer these and other questions together and INTERACTIVELY in our new online workshop – don’t forget your smartphone/tablet/laptop!

Kerstin Bongard-Blanchy (University of Luxembourg) and Arianna Rossi (SnT, University of Luxembourg) will guide us into the dark patterns underworld.

Georg Philip Krog, Founder & Chief of Legal Counsel of Signatu, will also join us to present Signatu’s Cookie Consent Banner solution (https://signatu.com/). Ever wondered how to design a compliant, yet user-friendly, cookie consent experience?