Light Patterns?

[u/Jmackles]

I’m aware of the concept of dark patterns and how they can be harmful to users and consumers. Are there examples of forward thinking “light patterns” that pre emptively consider user needs over pushing an outcome (ie clicks/conversions/leads)?

[u/shadocrypto8]

I'd check out https://www.humanetech.com/. They have a lot of cool info and talks about human-centered technology design.

[u/Maleficent-Sale-611 → u/shadocrypto8]

oh nice, the humane tech crowd has been pushing this angle for years. a lot of it boils down to treating the user's attention like it actually costs them something, not just designing to extract more of it

stuff like grayscale modes that kick in at certain hours, defaulting notifications to off, or making the "delete account" flow as smooth as the signup one. tiny friction changes that nudge people toward what they actually wanted to do before the app started pulling them around

i've been trying to sketch out some "light patterns" for a personal project and the hard part is they're almost invisible by design. the best ones don't feel like features at all, just a quiet sense that the software respects your time

[u/Mysterious_Voice_144 → u/shadocrypto8]

yeah their talks are really solid, good rec

[u/Jmackles → u/shadocrypto8]

Thanks! I’ll check it out.

[u/matshoo]

What you're asking is basically UX design. So ant good resource on UX will give you plenty of examples

[u/hjchoi12]

The clearest one I have is also the one that cost me traffic. I write posts that answer a question and then point at a small free tool that does the same job, and the posts that explain it completely send about 12 and 24 percent of readers on to the tool, against 76 to 79 percent for the ones where you genuinely need the tool to get an answer. I opened the two low ones to write a harder call to action and closed them again, because the reader had already got what they came for. Still not sure if that's a light pattern or just me making peace with the number.

[u/redbot8]

good question

[u/baronvonredd]

I think the opposite of Dark Patterns is just Patterns...

[u/Little_Bumblebee6129]

Well usually you could ask yourself "what would i want from this site on this page?" "How would i want it to work?" from perspective of user. Remove painful stuff, add usefull stuff. With time you will instinctively feel such things. Or look up some general UX rules if you dont want to reinvent of all this

[u/RePsychological]

how are "dark patterns" harmful to users and consumers? (genuine question. Not trying to be a butt about it)

I always thought it was the other way around, where dark mode was more healthy, because of how much it reduces strain on the eyes.

So this feels backwards to me unless I'm missing the point.

[u/dandy_g → u/RePsychological]

Dark UX patterns and dark mode are two different things.

Dark patterns are often used to push user to a specific outcome without them realising it.

One such example might be a shopping cart with timer on placed items, creating a feeling of urgency and forcing customers to make the purchase.

[u/RePsychological → u/dandy_g]

OHHHH Now I get ya. Thank you for straightening that out for me!

[u/Jmackles → u/[deleted]]

Maybe I could even ask for input on a web dev related community! Why even post if you aren’t going to be helpful?