Day 20 - Don't Be Evil in Your Designs

Persuasive techniques in UI, marketing, design patterns, & experience that are created to benefit companies more than their customers are evil.  Don't create user experiences at the expense of your customers. Don't spam, link bait, or trick your customers.

Here are just a few examples of what NOT to do. So be a good design citizen!

1. Implementing dark patterns is bad. A dark pattern is a type of UI that appears to be carefully crafted to trick users. Don't be deceptive in your designs.
2. Do not bury or intentionally hide your contact info (including your phone number) on your product or site so as to avoid speaking directly with customers.
3. Don't use fear tactics in your value proposition to get people to buy your product. "You need this because if you don't 'X' will happen..".
4. Don't hide disclaimers away from the "happy path" flow of product purchase i.e. tell your customer something is one price to get them to purchase then charge the customer with other hidden fees or hidden commitments.
5. Do not disguise ads as links to content.
6. Don't constantly bombard users with ads.
7. Don't require users to opt-out of a service or feature they didn't want, after you've automatically opted them in without their consent. Be clear up front before they sign up for your service.
8. Refusing to cancel or refund a user's money after having not delivered the service you promised them is bad.  Don't do that.
9. Don't sell people on products or services you cannot deliver.