In today’s digital landscape, users often encounter non-transparent designs and unethical practices in user interfaces. Mostly, those are deceptive design patterns, intentionally leading users to perform unintended actions.
This master’s thesis investigates possible strategies for designers to adopt ethical practices and counteract deceptive design trends. The research explored support tools for designers in prioritising ethical considerations throughout the design process. Collecting data from online surveys, expert interviews, and a literature review, the research proposed a practical solution: a helper tool seamlessly integrated into the predominantly used design software, Figma.
For this tool, anti-deceptive-pattern guidelines were collected and further developed to exemplify a practical framework for designers. Through a comprehensive design, coding, and promotion process, the Figma widget ‘EthicAlly’ was developed to evaluate design solutions for compliance with ethical standards manually.
Usability tests, incorporating user feedback, validated the suitability of assessing designs against anti-deceptive-pattern guidelines with EthicAlly, indicating acceptance within the target group. Substantially, this thesis concludes that this framework can support designers to create more ethical and responsible designs, fostering a transparent digital landscape for all users.
