The Dark Patterns blog  got a lot of online buzz this week. It’s collects examples of websites that are designed to trick users. Our favorite examples after the jump.

The favorite examples in our office include:

  • Ryanair using a trick in which the user, in order to avoid buying travel insurance, has to go to a box that says “Please select a country of residence” and select “No travel insurance required” from a drop-down list of countries.
  • Ticketmaster adding a “facility charge”, a “convenience charge”, and an “order processing charge” to its final bills.
  • Facebook’s 17-part “simple” privacy-setting interface.

It’s a strangely intriguing site to browse that leaves one with the disquieting feeling that the bad guys now have a place to go if they want to find ideas.