Dark Necessities
In this edition: We talk Dark patterns, Canva's homescreen (again) and Android camera phones | Mixology 65
Namaskar.
It has been a terrible week in India with the Air India crash. Hard to not mention it, as we look ahead to this week’s Mixology.
It’s been a while since we talked about: Dark Patterns.
🌏 Product & Design News:
Dark Patterns Are Getting Called Out — Finally
A couple weeks back, India’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs did something rare: they summoned the biggies — Amazon, Swiggy, Zepto, Flipkart, Uber, Apple, Meta and more — to talk about… UI and UX.
Specifically, the kind that manipulates you.
The agenda? Dark patterns. And the message was clear: clean up your UX or face the consequences.
Platforms will now have to self-audit, stop using banned tactics (like basket sneaking, disguised ads, or fake urgency), and submit annual compliance reports.
So yeah, shady design is now officially a compliance issue.
And users are taking notice.
A viral Reddit thread called out Zepto for dark patterns, with users sharing their own frustrating experiences in the comments.
Zepto isn’t alone. From Uber’s pre-filled tip fields to airline sites faking scarcity, dark patterns are everywhere — we’ve just gotten used to them.
But maybe that’s about to change.
Because this time, it’s not just users ranting on the internet. It’s the regulators who are watching. 👀
In the meantime, check out this clear guide on the 13 dark UX patterns officially banned in India.
👉🏻PS: Have an interesting read to recommend to 9000+ readers? You can also recommend your own article/video/case study. Tell us here.
📅 Events @ UXHack:
Weekend Hackathon #71 Results
👉🏻 Product: Canva
Context: Improve the design of this screen, focusing on better use of vertical space on mobile and making filtering and search more intuitive.
💼 Featured Jobs:
Design Jobs 🎨
Product Designer at Uplers | Mumbai
Lead UX Designer at CarInfo | New Delhi
Product Jobs 🅿️
Product Manager at Thomson Reuters | Bengaluru
Product Manager at Legion Technologies | Bengaluru
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⛏️ Tools & Resources
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🖥️ From Founders’ Desk:
📸 📱Akshay’s search for a good Android camera phone:
Apple gets panned for a LOT of things, but one thing that almost every Apple phone has is a solid 7/10 camera, even on their older phones.
The Android world is different: Unless you go above the Rs 40-50K range, no matter what phone you use, the camera experience is meh.
So, if I have to spend north of Rs 40K why not just spend a little more and get an iPhone or a flagship Android, which I don’t want to: see the conundrum?
This was me… until someone suggested that most of the image quality now, is via post processing. Yes the lens matters, but with decent editing you could get some pretty nice results.
And so the best Android camera phone, for me, is… the one I already have, with some neat editing via Snapseed (love the app). The results speak for themselves.
Btw, I love capturing moments and used to be an Insta addict (the photo waala Insta, not Reel waala). I’m getting back to posting regularly now on my handle: @akkaphotos
See you there!
And with that, it’s a wrap for this edition of Mixology. What’s been your experience with Dark Patterns. We’d love to hear more….
Until next time… taaaa daaaa!
End notes:
The headline is the name of a song by Red Hot Cilli Peppers… Dark Necessities
Image banner prompts: ChatGPT Dark patterns concept: Behind the curtain
