Have you ever been incensed by a piece of web design which is not only bad, but seems to be purposely so? Typical examples could include:

• Near-invisible ‘unsubscribe’ links for  newsletters
• Extra fees which only reveal themselves at the very last stage of a lengthy checkout process
• Option to install a useless toolbar during a software installation, which you accidentally select while tapping next, next, next (because the install chekbox is pre-selected).

 No I don’t want to install your sucky toolbar! Oh, too late.

The next time you encounter a stinker such as this, I encourage you to submit it to the excellent darkpatterns.org – a highly-respected, central repository of piss-taking design patterns.

Their mission statement is to name and shame offending companies, to serve as a warning to others. Sort of like a design nerd version of Martin Lewis. Gotta be a good thing.

Specific examples are helpfully grouped into categories, such as:

• Disguised Ads
• Forced Continuity (the 30 day free trial which is hard to cancel)
• Privacy Zuckering (tricks to make you reveal more personal info than you realise).

Check it out – then share it.