Do you know the words in the title? It may be an unfamiliar word, but when you know the meaning, there are many people who remember their own experience while feeling a little frustrated. What this means is that  the shop intentionally incorporate the mechanism that it gains by inviting customer mistakes at the store. For example, a store may raise the price to 1.5 times the normal price and advertise it as "a celebration pennant race victory, a special 30% discount only now." As another example, good information is very large and prominent, and the worst information you should be aware of is very small and unobtrusive at the bottom of the screen.Also, when I make a purchase, they start sending me annoying email newsletters even though no one asked for them. (In fact, when I make a purchase, I automatically check the "I would like to receive email newsletters" box, and if I don't want them, I have to remove it. In this article, I'll give you two examples of such nasty, nasty, nasty patterns that I've experienced.
 
I don't believe that bank...
The first example of a dark pattern I have come across is the attitude of local banks. My father, who passed away last year, used to buy financial products as recommended by the bankers. This is a cunning way for bankers to earn sales commissions by repeatedly encouraging customers to sell and buy similar products. In addition, the management fees were absurdly high, and the list of products lined up with relatively high-risk financial products that were not suitable for the elderly. When I asked my father why he bought the new one, he just replied that he didn't really know but the bank representative said it was a good idea.Elderly people in the countryside have a high level of trust in their local banks. The banks also seem to know this and use them. The risk of a drop in the price of a product is borne only by the unknowing customer, and the bank is sure to get a commission, which is too convenient for the bank. It's like what the people close to the perpetrators say in the news reports of the incident on the TV shows, "Oh, no, he didn't do that...".I once protested to the bank that it was a problem to frequently sell risky products to the elderly who had no idea what was going on, but I did not get a sincere response from the bank.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
 
Furthermore, after my father's death, I contacted the bank for the inheritance procedure and went to the bank with the necessary documents that I was told in advance. I was given only a piece of paper with contact information by the person in charge of guiding me, who seemed a little annoyed and said that due to the Corona disaster, they could not process my request unless I made an appointment in advance. If that was the case, I had no choice but to give up. A few days later, when I called again to make a reservation, I was told by two people in a row that the person in charge would contact me again. The third person I finally reached was also very troublesome and made me feel angry. When I actually showed up at the appointed time and date, I was told that another person would be online to help me.However, it seemed that the online system was not ready, and after a lot of confusion, we were finally able to complete the process in person. Bankers are very keen to attack ignorant and obedient customers for financial products that will surely make them money without any risk to them. However, no one wants to pick up an inheritance procedure that doesn't make a penny, which may be reasonable from the perspective of making money, but is the worst in terms of customer satisfaction.
 
The gap that will become clear someday
Next, let's talk about system building. When you build a house, you create a blueprint based on the customer's requirements. In the same way, when building a system, we go through the same stages of listening to the requirements and designing the system, and then actually creating the program. If there are a lot of ambiguities, misunderstandings, or omissions in the initial confirmation of requests, I sometimes feel like crying when I notice a big gap with the customer when we get to the stage of creating specific functions and screens.
 
This is a story about a project to replace an aging system with a new one. In the document that summarized the requests made at the initial meeting, a mysterious phrase was included which was too vague, "current function guarantee". With limited money to spend on development, The meetings to decide what to do,and how long to do it are tense affairs where sometimes harsh words are exchanged.  In such a situation, the phrase "current function guarantee" was a convenient way to postpone the problem. We don't need to decide that much now, we can decide the details a little later when the situation becomes clearer! Because if the confirmation of the request continues to be confused and undecided, the schedule will be delayed and the cost will be even higher. So, let's say that the system is "current function guarantee", and don't worry because what the system can do now, it can do in the future! I think that both the customer and the developer had a sense of irresponsibility.
 
However, peace that presupposes such ambiguity and convenience will soon collapse. It's as if the sense of incongruity hidden in the freshness immediately after marriage is washed out by daily life and gradually sharpened. What kind of functions and screens does the system need? At such a stage, the customer explained the function that handles all the current business and requested it without omission. On the development side, it can be replaced by changing it like this, right? Or, this function does not have much effect of improving the business even though the development cost is quite high, so I tried to save budget and time by wanting to cover it manually like this, but the customer  insisted on "current function guarantee" and fell into parallel lines and stalemate. In some cases, something like a hidden tool secretly made by the person in charge of business by excel etc. was discovered. Is such a thing  "current function guarantee" ? It was a pity.
 
As a reflection, I shouldn't have escaped to the convenient word "current function guarantee" at the stage of setting the first big direction. We should have decided what we should be now on a zero basis, not based on what we are doing now. The necessary functions should have been identified accordingly. It's a shame to be enthusiastic about faithfully reproducing a system built on the "current situation" of a long time ago. That time has passed. From the technologies that support systems such as communication, software, and hardware, to the environment surrounding the customer's business, to the faces that are in charge of business, things have changed completely. The appearance of the system must also be suitable for the present. I felt uncomfortable because I couldn't guide the customer by grasping the present accurately and drawing a picture that suits the present.
 
 
I won't fail anymore!
In this way, I gave two examples to deal with the dirtyness and fear of dark patterns. So what should we do to avoid such disappointment? I think that it is important to carefully check and deal with it on the spot without delaying it. People who use techniques such as the dark pattern take advantage of the hassle, carelessness, and ignorance.
 
The other is to avoid contact with such techniques in the first place, that is, not to associate with them. Nowadays, as a corporate attitude, from short-term thinking focusing on shareholder interests, long-term interests of a wide range of stakeholders such as employees, customers, environment, shareholders, and business partners as represented by the term SDGs are emphasized. In such a trend, it is becoming difficult to continue the stance of fooling customers and picking up profits at the moment. Therefore, I think it is important to take the time to find a partner who can enjoy long-term relationships while enjoying mutual benefits, away from the flimsy convenience.