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NordiCHI '26 — Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction October 03–07, 2026 · Vaasa, Finland
Authors: Eszter Vigh (IT University of Copenhagen) · Johanna Gunawan (Maastricht University)
Dark patterns are design practices that manipulate users into unintended decisions and pose growing challenges for user autonomy, regulatory compliance, and ethical design. This tutorial introduces participants to the Dark Patterns Ontology as a structured foundation for identifying, classifying, and analyzing such practices, while extending its application through the TADP method and regulatory mapping approaches. Together, these components build an understanding of how manipulative designs operate across technical, experiential, and legal dimensions.
These elements are unified through the perspective of The Dark Patterns Knowledge Stack, which conceptualizes the interplay between user context, interface design, and regulatory structures. Participants will engage in guided exercises applying the ontology, TADP method, and regulatory mapping to real-world interfaces, developing skills in annotation, critical evaluation, and intervention design.
The tutorial fosters a shared vocabulary and interdisciplinary approach, supporting collaboration between researchers, designers, and policymakers. By integrating structured ontologies with methodological and regulatory perspectives, the tutorial contributes to emerging efforts to align design practice with legal accountability and contextual sensitivity.
This tutorial offers a structured, hands-on introduction to the study and analysis of dark patterns, designed for UX researchers and practitioners seeking both conceptual grounding and practical tools. Over the course of the session, attendees will move through a range of activities from foundational vocabulary building to applied analysis and regulatory mapping that collectively develop a holistic and operational understanding of deceptive design.
The tutorial opens with participant lightning talks and a structured small-group discussion that surfaces the real-world challenges attendees face in identifying, classifying, and combating dark patterns in their own contexts. Attendees are then introduced to the Dark Patterns Ontology and Knowledge Stack, which together provide a shared vocabulary and multi-level conceptual structure for understanding how manipulative design operates across interface, experiential, and systemic dimensions.
Building on this foundation, the tutorial presents the Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns (TADP) method, which extends ontological classification by situating dark pattern behaviors across time and user journeys. Participants then apply these frameworks directly in a collaborative identification activity, working in small groups to analyze real-world interfaces and develop practical annotation and evaluation skills. The tutorial concludes with an examination of the regulatory landscape, exploring how legal and institutional responses to dark patterns intersect with the research frameworks introduced throughout the session.
By the end of the tutorial, attendees will leave with a shared interdisciplinary vocabulary, hands-on experience applying structured analytical methods, and a clearer understanding of how design practice, research, and regulation can be brought into closer alignment.
Organizers will welcome attendees and introduce the goals of the tutorial. Participants will then each be given a specified amount of time to share their research. The amount of time will be based on how many attendees sign up.
In pairs or small groups, attendees will discuss the following questions:
- What challenges arise in identifying dark patterns?
- What obstacles surface in the regulatory landscape with regards to dark pattern elimination?
- What tensions emerge when navigating 'marketing' and 'manipulative design'?
- What barriers hinder combating dark patterns in-situ?
After each question, attendees will be asked to share their pair or small group responses with the larger group.
Attendees will be introduced to the dark patterns knowledge stack and the dark patterns ontology. This lecture introduces low, meso, and high level dark patterns while explaining the importance of contextual and audience framing. Attendees will leave this segment with a shared conceptual vocabulary that will anchor the analytical work throughout the rest of the tutorial.
In this segment, we will introduce a new method for dark patterns analysis that analyses dark pattern behaviors across a temporal landscape. TADP situates these deceptive design strategies within a temporal landscape which allows researchers and practitioners to trace when patterns emerge, how they intensify or recede across a user journey, and the cumulative effect they have on user decision-making over repeated exposures.
In this hands-on group activity, participants will apply the TADP method to identify and categorize dark patterns in real-world interfaces. Working in small groups, participants will examine live or documented cases drawn from common digital products, collaborating to surface deceptive design strategies, discuss ambiguous instances, and compare findings across groups. This activity is designed to build practical identification skills and foster critical dialogue around the boundaries and nuances of dark pattern classification.
Attendees will be introduced to key legislation, enforcement actions, and institutional guidelines that have targeted deceptive design practices, including actions from bodies such as the EU, US FTC, and national consumer protection agencies. In particular, we will focus on EU- or EEA-relevant regulations such as the Digital Services Act, AI Act, and others pertaining to dark patterns. The segment situates regulatory efforts within the broader dark patterns research agenda, examining how legal definitions of deceptive design align with — and sometimes diverge from — academic and practitioner frameworks.
The tutorial closes with a brief synthesis of the key themes and frameworks covered throughout the session. Attendees will be invited to reflect on how the methods, vocabularies, and case studies encountered today can inform their own research and practice. The organizers will share pointers to further reading and open the floor for any final questions or discussion.
This tutorial does not expect contributions or submissions from accepted participants. We will, however, circulate pre-tutorial information and suggested readings that will better facilitate in-tutorial learning.
These readings are also intended as post-tutorial resources — pre-reading is not required.
- Gray, C. M., Kou, Y., Battles, B., Hoggatt, J., & Toombs, A. L. (2018). The dark (patterns) side of UX design. Proceedings of CHI 2018 (pp. 1–14).
- Mathur, A., Acar, G., Friedman, M. J., Lucherini, E., Mayer, J., Chetty, M., & Narayanan, A. (2019). Dark patterns at scale: Findings from a crawl of 11K shopping websites. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 3(CSCW), 1–32.
- Gunawan, J., Pradeep, A., Choffnes, D., Hartzog, W., & Wilson, C. (2021). A comparative study of dark patterns across web and mobile modalities. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(CSCW2), 1–29.
- Gray, C. M., Santos, C., Bielova, N., Toth, M., & Clifford, D. (2021). Dark patterns and the legal requirements of consent banners: An interaction criticism perspective. Proceedings of CHI 2021 (pp. 1–18).
- Mathur, A., Kshirsagar, M., & Mayer, J. (2021). What makes a dark pattern... dark? Design attributes, normative considerations, and measurement methods. Proceedings of CHI 2021 (pp. 1–18).
By the end of this tutorial, participants will be able to:
- Describe high, meso, and low level dark patterns based on definitions developed by the dark pattern research community.
- Conduct a systematic identification, analysis, and evaluation of design practices using the dark patterns ontology.
- Analyze interfaces through the lens of the dark patterns knowledge stack to understand the context and audience framing of dark patterns in-situ.
- Distinguish between legal precedents to understand the current regulatory positioning of dark patterns legal cases.
Dr. Eszter Vigh (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Researcher from the IT University of Copenhagen in the Center for Information Security and Trust. She holds a PhD in Digital Health and Care from the University of Bristol. Her PhD work examined alcohol purchasing behavior on online grocery shopping platforms. Her current research focuses on dark patterns in AI-focused spaces, team dynamics in AI-engaged teams, and the development of trustworthy systems.
Dr. Johanna Gunawan (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Law with the Maastricht University Law & Tech Lab. She holds a PhD and MS in Cybersecurity from the Northeastern University Khoury College of Computer Sciences, with her interdisciplinary doctoral research focusing on understanding dark patterns in-situ and subsequently regulating them. Her present work aims to further bridge the techno-legal gap, translating HCI, CS, and legal concepts across disciplines towards tighter enforcement loops and collaborative technology policymaking.
- Please bring your laptops!