IMPULSE #3 | 📓 Design Research 3

Another talk I attended at the World Usability Congress was “The UX Horror Show: Let’s Talk About Dark Patterns” by Vicky Pirker. This talk connects directly to another talk (Addiction vs. Control: How (not) to build habit-forming products), since deceptive patterns are used to make products that are habit-forming. Moreover these patterns are used to manipulate and deceive users. What I found most interesting was that Digital Service Act already prohibits these tactics yet few businesses adhere to them.

As Designers we understand how people think and therefore we have the power to either protect users or exploit them. I know that as Designers, we still depend on big corporations to make a living. And as both speakers mentioned we probably can’t change capitalism in an instant but we can make things better little by little through the design decisions we make. I would argue that many young people are also growing sceptical of businesses that are purely profit-driven and prefer companies that act more responsibly and socially. This is also reflected in the 51st edition of the Harvard Youth Poll, in which the share of young Americans who identify as capitalist fell by ten percent (from 29% in 2020 to 19% in 2025).

Source: https://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/51st-edition-fall-2025

3 Guidelines for Designers (Article 25(3) Digital Service Act)

The speaker mentioned some easy guidelines to adhere for Designers:

  1. Don’t give prominence to one option: This is most commonly used in cookie banners, where businesses often highlight the option that benefits themselves than the users.
  2. Don’t repeatedly ask the user to reconsider: Also called Nagging, which is used by businesses to upsell certain subscription plans or products. (e.g. choosing the Basic plan and then getting “Are you sure? You’ll miss these Pro features.”)
  3. Don’t make it harder to cancel than to sign up: Many businesses use this model called Roach Motel to keep users from unsubscribing from their service. (e.g. unsubscribing from a newsletter)

DATA Framework by Vicky Pirker

How can Designers make the right decisions? The speaker created a framework called DATA, which offers some pointers for making digital products less manipulative and exploitative.

  1. D (Dignity): Users should be respected and not shamed into making decisions.
    1. For example, pop-ups that try to upsell users at checkout, such as “Are you sure you want to continue with Basic? Get 5% off if you upgrade now.”
  2. A (Autonomy): User should be able to choose freely.
    1. One well-known example is the cookie banner, where the “Accept all” button is highlighted while the other options are barely visible. Thus, users often click whatever stands out, even if it isn’t in their best interest.
  3. T (Transparency): User should always know what is going on.
    1. One example is unsubscribing, which is often extremely complicated. Instead of simply confirming that everything has been turned off and the user is unsubscribed, many businesses add extra steps.
  4. A (Authenticity): Pressure placed on users should be real not fabricated.
    1. A common example might be fake urgency on hotel booking platforms, such as “20 people are looking at this hotel right now” or “only 3 rooms left.” A more honest version would be “3 rooms left on our platform,” which makes clear that the hotel itself possibly has more availability.

Related Links

IMPULSE #2 | 📓 Design Research 3

The second impulse I got was at the World Usability Congress 2026. I listened to the talk: “Addiction vs. controll: How (not) to build habit-forming products” by Sebastian Castaneda.

Why companies build addictive products

According to the speaker the basis for companies designing interactions that are addictive lies in their business model (capitalism). Most companies goal is to create digital products that are as engaging as possible, because that creates value. In other words the more time a user spends in an app, the more ads they see and the more revenue the company generates.

Time management in social media apps

Additionally, the speaker was specifically talking about time-management features inside social media apps. In the past these apps genuinely tried to interrupt the user so they would stop using the app. Over the past few years this changed since most businesses are profit-driven.

Until today I didn’t know that social media apps offered a time-management features. However, as shown in the previous images those features are not very effective. Why are there buttons for postponing the time limit but none for closing the app? At this point I want to mention that I use Android’s Digital Wellbeing feature, which actually works well for me. What helps me a lot through the day is that once I reach my time limit, the app icon gets grayed out. Even when I am searching for it I am having a trouble finding it. Besides that, adding more time is slightly more complicated, since I have to open the settings and click a few times.

Should we build habit-forming products at all?

One crucial question the speaker raised was: “Do we really need to build something that creates habits?”. He suggested that it sometimes makes sense to create habits. The following table shows a matrix for deciding whether it is ethical to build a habit-forming application.

the maker does not use itthe maker uses it
improves the users lifePeddlerFacilitator
doesn’t improve the users lifeDealerEntertainer

In brief, the Facilitator would be the ideal case. The creator (business) builds something that they believe in and would use themselves. The goal is to understand the user and their interests. In contrast, the Dealer (often social media platforms) is where the creator builds something that they do not use themselves and that does not help anyone, yet they still try to get people hooked on it.

What stood out to me

What stood out most to me were facts about the effects of social media. According to the speaker 45% of teen Instagram users find it difficult to manage their time on the platform. Studies show decreased cognitive capacity with the mere presence of a smartphone. Most importantly, people are two times as likely to get depression and anxiety if their social media use is more than five hours a day.

Accompanying links

Hooked: How to build Habit Forming Products – Book

James Clear – The Habbits Guide – Website

James Clear – Atomic Habits – Book

IMPULSE #1 | 📓 Design Research 3

Summer-Break Update

Over the past several months I took some time to look into other areas of interaction design. Initially I wanted to research interface design for older adults, but I kept finding existing studies, bachelor’s and master’s theses that already covered the topic. It didn’t feel innovative. Since then I’ve shifted to the topic of deceptive patterns as it is currently in public discourse. (e.g. Engagement-Optimized Algorithms)

Recently, more related topics like solarpunk, capitalism, social media and as already mentioned deceptive patterns came to my attention. Social media platforms monetize on attention, which ties their revenue directly to how long users stay engaged. This incentivises comapnies to create addictive algorithms and to use deceptive patterns.

In this context, I found the book Desing after Capitalsim by Matthew Wizinsky which I am currently reading. The author argues that design needs to be reoriented away from exploitative and growth driven models towards much fairer and more sustainable ones.

For my first blog post I watched a lecture about this topic from the author.

This lecture was focused on Design design after Capitalism. Matthew Wizinsky was talking about difference of Design (with capital d or expert design) and design (lowercase d or diffuse design). He describes Design as the the design being practised by trained designers whereas design is performed by everybody. Most importantly he mentioned that expert design can help facilitate diffuse design.

Facing the Polycrisis

The speaker mentioned that humanity are currently facing a poly-crisis: ecological, economic and social crises. They are not separate problems but overlap and reinforce each another. He asked himself if design can help us imagine a life after capitalism.

How can we begin to think beyond capitalist logics and subjectivities, so that we can start to labor, work, act and live in different ways?

This question resonated with me because I have noticed in my own work that much of what I design is driven by business interests and not the users. Companies decide goals and metrics, so in the end our design decisions end up following their commercial interests.

Who owns attention?

Most interestingly humanity currently lives in a time where information is everywhere and its valuable because attention, data and knowledge are parts that drive economy as well. As Matthew Wizinsky pointed out, property and ownership have shifted. In the past, owning something meant owning a physical product, but today things are digital. This is also where big platforms come in. They are not just passive participants in the market, they are the market itself. They decide what users see, what creators earn and what advertisers pay. And Designers sit at the center of this system: they create the interfaces, brands and experiences of these platforms and are therefore directly responsible for decisions that affect millions of users and huge amounts of revenue.

Why it is related to my topic of deceptive patterns?

Looking back at everything, deceptive patterns are not accidents.They come from companies and their business models, where engagement equals revenue and Designers are the ones who create the tools that make this possible. For this reason and for many others this topic is important to me.

Right now I am trying to gather ideas and impulses from this talk.

Disclaimer: I will use the terms “Designers” and “designers” with their distinct meanings, that were mentioned by Matthew Wizinsky.

Related Links

Design After Capitalism

Eat the rich!

Community Economies – J.K. Gibson Graham

TRUMMER JULIA – Blog

Introduction to the Master’s Thesis

Author: Adriana Mesquita Machado 

Title: The Co-existence of Dark and Light Patterns in the Web: Development of a Lighter-Darkness Media Toolbox for Responsible Design 

Portuguese title: A CoexistĂȘncia de PadrĂ”es Dark e Light na Web: Desenvolvimento de uma Ferramenta Lighter-Darkness Media para o Design ResponsĂĄvel 

Year: 2023 

Institution / degree: University of Aveiro, Master’s in Communication and Web Technologies. 

Critical Analysis and Evaluation of a Master’s Thesis

I really enjoyed reading this thesis. It’s well structured without being designed at all and it was easy to follow from the start to finish. The author writes in a very orderly way and her reasoning makes sense throughout. Already in her Introduction she sets the problem, her research question and her goals. I already researched deceptive patterns myself and they are already well researched, so the topic itself doesn’t feel to innovative, but I think her toolbox is an important step towards making the topic useful for every designer. I especially liked that she didn’t stop at building the tool. She tested it with designers, got feedback and improved the toolbox. I believe the scope is impressive for a master’s thesis. She seems decisive and independent the whole way through. Also the literature review is solid, though a few more recent sources would have helped.

Evaluation of the Practical Project / Work Produced

Does the thesis successfully connect the research question, theoretical framework, and practical implementation?

Yes, very much so. Her research question, “What are the web design guidelines that inform the implementation of a lighter-darkness media toolbox?”. I think she did a great job of connecting it with the theoretical framework. The practical implementation was also great, since she really put in a lot of effort and worked with designers to improve the first version of her toolbox.

Is the documentation of the practical project clear, comprehensible, and sufficiently detailed?

The author described each step of her practical work. Starting from the moodboard and design decisions she made to the sections of her toolbox. She documented everything very well and used many screenshots and photos of her work.

In your opinion, does the quality and level of development of the practical project meet the requirements of a Master’s thesis?

In the end the toolbox is still a prototype and not a final product. This is also what the author said herself. For a master’s thesis, building a tool which also used real user input and testing is a complete and well executed design cycle and worth being called a master’s thesis. This is what I would expect from a master’s thesis.

Final Conclusion

In general, I think this is a very good and comprehensive master’s thesis. It is structured very well and is easy to read. It also connects the research question to the theory and especially the practical work. What especially stood out to me was that she didn’t just create a toolbox but also tested and then improved it through testing.

Relevance to Your Own Final Thesis

Finally, I think that the structure and also the research methods the author of this master’s thesis used is something I also would like to implement in my own master’s thesis. For me its really important to have a real outcome because I want it to be a useful work in the end. Since I think this master’s thesis is outstanding I wouldn’t really change anything.

✿6 Design Research 2 – Final Conclusion and Video

Final Prototype Video

Link: DesignResearch.mp4

Conlcusion

Looking back at this semester, I think the biggest challenge for me was figuring out what I actually wanted to focus on for my master’s thesis. At the beginning, I only knew that I wanted to work with older adults and that I was interested in topics like digital literacy, education and tangible interaction. It took a lot of reading, observing and prototyping before these pieces slowly started to come together.

Even though I only really found my direction during the last couple of weeks, I don’t see that as wasted time anymore. Exploring different ideas helped me understand what actually interests me and, just as importantly, what doesn’t.

One thing I definitely discovered this semester is how much I enjoy working with tangible interfaces. Designing something physical that interacts with the digital side feels like a really exciting topic to explore, especially in the context of accessibility and older adults. At the same time, I still enjoy the technical side of interaction design and would love to combine both in my master’s thesis.

The NFC book is only an early prototype, but I think it has shown me a direction that I want to continue exploring. Over the next semester, I would like to test this concept with older adults.

✿5 Design Research 2 – Interview and Prototyping

Since I came up with the idea of creating a physical phone book in my last blog post, I decided to ask ten older adults, all around the age of 65, what they actually like to use their phones for. This time, the conversations went much better than my previous ones. Everyone was able to tell me quite clearly what they regularly use their phones for.

What I found even more interesting was that many participants started talking about their frustrations with smartphones on their own. While answering questions about their everyday phone use, they often mentioned situations where they felt confused.

For this very short interview, which was more of a questionnaire, I simply asked participants what they use their phones for most often. The most common answers were: making phone calls and using WhatsApp, either for texting or sending voice messages. Other frequently mentioned activities included looking at photos, checking the weather and reading the news. Some participants also said that they regularly listen to music, radio stations or playlists using apps on their phones.

These results were somewhat interesting for me because they support my idea that older adults often use a relatively small set of functions very frequently. This made me think that focusing on simplifying these tasks, rather than trying to simplify the entire smartphone experience, could be a direction for my research.

ActivityParticipants (n = 10)Percentage
Calling (normal)10100%
Watching Photos and Videos10100%
Taking Photos10100%
Calling (video)880%
Sending Messages (WhatsApp)770%
Listening to Music660%
Checking the Weather550%
Reading News440%
Listening to Radio330%

Since many of the people I interviewed mentioned that they mainly use their phones to stay in touch with family and friends, it became clear that social connection plays a very important role for them.

Importance

Access to digital technology plays an important role in the lives of many older adults, as it can significantly influence their quality of life, social participation and ability to manage their health and well-being. Social isolation is a significant concern for the elderly population which is often caused by shrinking social circles either because of retirement, illness or death. [1]

As a result, maintaining social connections becomes increasingly important in older age. One of the most important benefits of digital technologies is that they can help reduce social isolation and loneliness. Through video calls and social media, older adults can stay connected with family and friends and continue to participate in social life. [1] Regular social interaction through digital technologies is also associated with better subjective health and overall well-being. [2]

Beyond supporting social connections, digital technologies can also help older adults maintain their independence and quality of life. They can support everyday tasks, promote cognitive engagement and enable older adults to remain active and participate in society longer. [3]

These findings are also in line with the interview results, where participants mentioned that they mainly use technologies such as smartphones to stay in contact with family and friends.

Prototyping – The PhoneBook

After trying out different ideas, I ended up focusing on the NFC phone book. The idea came from my observations and the short interviews I did. Most of them told me that they only use a handful of functions on their phones regularly, mainly calling family and friends, looking at photos, listening to music or checking the weather. That made me think: instead of trying to simplify the whole smartphone, why not just make these everyday tasks easier to access?

The book is divided into different sections based on most used functionalities, like calling family, listening to music or viewing photos. Every page contains pictures or symbols with NFC tags hidden inside. To perform an action, users simply open the page they need and hold their phone over the corresponding picture. For example, holding the phone over a picture of their daughter would automatically start a phone call.

I decided to go with a book because it feels familiar. Earlier, I experimented with individual NFC objects, but I realized that they could easily get lost and would need to be stored somewhere. A book keeps everything in one place and also gives clear instructions.

At this stage, the prototype is mainly meant to explore whether a familiar object like a phone book can make smartphone interactions feel simpler. Instead of navigating through apps and menus, users interact with pictures and pages, which hopefully reduces some of the barriers that older adults experience when using smartphones.

Update from 6.7.2026

I already tested it with my grandmother. Her comment: “It feels like magic!”

Sources

[1] P. Bhowmick and E. Stolterman Bergqvist, ‘Exploring Tangible User Interface Design for Social Connection Among Older Adults: A Preliminary Review’, in Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Hamburg, Germany, 2023.

[2] Y. Liu and R. Tamura, ‘How can smart home help “New elders” aging in place and building connectivity’, 07 2020, pp. 100–107.

[3] P. Bhowmick and E. Stolterman Bergqvist, ‘Exploring Tangible User Interface Design for Social Connection Among Older Adults: A Preliminary Review’, in Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Hamburg, Germany, 2023.

✿4 Design Research 2 – Prototyping

Since my last update, I’ve been trying to pay more attention to how older adults actually use their phones. One thing that I found interesting was that many of them were actually very comfortable using WhatsApp. They understood what was happening, could explain different functions and generally navigated the app without too many problems.

While observing these interactions, I started thinking about whether some of the actions older adults struggle with could be simplified. Instead of trying to redesign entire interfaces, what if I could take specific tasks or frequently used functions and break them down into a much simpler interaction?

This led me to explore more tangible interactions, specifically NFC technology. Most smartphones already support NFC and I got some inspiration by some already existing products like the ENA Care, which use physical objects to trigger digital actions. The idea of replacing complex digital interactions with simple physical actions seemed actually interesting.

It actually took me some time to figure out what I wanted to focus on more. To get there, I started experimenting and creating some small prototypes.

My first step was to try out an NFC-based tangible interaction system myself. Luckily, I already had some NFC tags and cards lying around at home.. Before getting started, I did some research and found that there are already many tutorials explaining how to set up NFC routines on smartphones. One resource I found particularly helpful was: https://www.wakdev.com/en/apps/nfc-tools-android.html

Setting everything up was actually much easier than I expected because most smartphones already support reading and writing NFC tags. Using some old NFC cards I had at home, I created my first simple prototype based on existing NFC automation. This initial experiment helped me understand possible ways of interaction for digital tasks for older adults.

Prototyping

The first thing I had to figure out was which tools I could use for working with NFC tags. After some research, I decided to use NFC Tools by Wakdev writing the tags. Additionally, I had to install another app called NFC Tasks, also by Wakdev, to create automated actions.

However, while setting everything up, I already started thinking about older and less experienced users. Even though the process was easy for me, I don’t think many older adults would be able to configure such a system on their own. This made me think that there might be a need for an all-in-one application that simplifies the setup and guides users through it.

After getting the technical side working, I started experimenting with the interaciton. Since the NFC tags I had at home were just small stickers, I wanted to create a more tangible and easier way to interact with them. In my case I thought of basically two ways of using NFC: either bringing the NFC tag to the phone or bringing the phone to the NFC object. To try this, I designed and 3D printed several different variants that I would like to test further.

While prototyping, I ran into a few problems. One thing I noticed was that the distance between the NFC tag and the smartphone can’t be very large, meaning the tag has to be placed almost directly on the surface of the object. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that small physical objects might not be ideal for older adults. They can be difficult to pick up, especially for elderly people and they also need to be stored somewhere. On top of that, they could easily get lost.

First draft of the NFC Object

While experimenting with these prototypes, I came up with an idea: creating a physical phone book based on NFC interactions. Instead of navigating through contacts and menus, users could simply hold their phone to a physical card or object and immediately call them. In addition, this phonebook could also contain other tasks.

✿3 Design Research 2 – Interview

When I started looking into digital literacy among older adults, I thought the easiest way to find out where the problems are would be to simply ask people. So, taking some previous feedback into account, I spoke to around ten older people and asked questions like: What do you struggle with when using technology? What was easier back in the day? Is there anything you’d like to get better at?

(Not) to my surprise, I didn’t get many useful answers.

Most people either said they didn’t really have any problems or found it difficult to explain what exactly they struggled with. Thinking about it afterwards, that actually makes a lot of sense. Many issues only appear while someone is actively using a device or trying to complete a task. Once the moment has passed, it can be hard to remember what happened.

Because of that, I started wondering if directly asking people about their problems is even the best approach. Maybe observing people while they use technology would show much more than interviews alone. Since I didn’t get many concrete insights from those conversations, I started asking colleagues and friends about their experiences with parents, grandparents and other older relatives. Almost everyone had some kind of story. It became clear that many younger people end up being the unofficial tech support person in their family.

Interview Results

One thing that stood out was how important familiarity seems to be. One colleague told me that their mother shops online all the time and actually prefers doing it on her phone rather than on a computer. For me that sounded a little backwards, since a larger screen and analoge input usually feels easier to navigate. But because she’s used to her phone, that’s simply the device she feels most comfortable with.

Another interesting example was someone working as a secretary. They use digital tools all day long at work, manage documents, handle bookings and deal with various systems without any issues. But when it comes to doing similar things in their private life, like booking a flight for themselves, they would rather avoid it. At work there is always a process, a colleague or someone responsible for helping. At home, that safety net isn’t there. It made me think that confidence might also sometimes be a bigger factor than actual technical skills.

Some observations weren’t really about technology itself but about how people communicate online. Multiple colleagues mentioned that their parents or grandparents completely ignore grammar, punctuation and spelling when sending text messages. As some young people do as well. The goal seems to be getting the message across rather than worrying about how it looks.

Trust was another topic that appeared again and again. Several people mentioned that their parents or grandparents still prefer traditional banking methods. Instead of making a transfer online, they would rather fill out a paper form at the bank. Whether that’s actually safer isn’t really the point. The important thing is that it feels safer and more understandable to them.

Communication preferences also seem to differ quite a bit. According to several people, older adults often prefer calling someone instead of sending an email or a message. A phone call gives immediate feedback. You know the other person received the information and understood it. With emails or messages, there’s always a bit more uncertainty.

One thing I found particularly interesting was the role curiosity seems to play. People who are naturally curious often continue exploring technology regardless of their age. They click around, try things out and aren’t afraid of making mistakes. Others seem much less interested in learning something new, not necessarily because it’s difficult, but because they don’t see enough value in putting in the effort.

At this point, these are still just observations rather than real conclusions. But they already change some of my assumptions. Maybe the issue isn’t simply that digital products are too complicated. Familiarity, confidence, trust, habits, motivation and curiosity all seem to have a huge influence on how people interact with technology.

For the next step, I think it would be much more useful to actually observe people while they perform digital tasks instead of only asking them about their experiences afterwards. I also already have a direction I would like to go to.

✿2 Design Reserach 2

Unsere Mission - enna
In my last blog post I was already thinking about a final product, but since then I came to realize that I might need to do some more research.

This week, I came across a tablet-based system called Enna Care, a product created in Germany that uses NFC cards as a “physical” way of interacting with digital content. Instead of navigating a touchscreen interface, users simply place a card on the device to trigger a specific action.

When I first looked at the system, it raised an interesting question: Should the challenges elderly people face with digital technology be solved entirely through digital solutions or should designers also consider combining digital and analog interaction?

From the research I reviewed, it became clear that many seniors experience difficulties when using touchscreen interfaces. Age-related changes in motor and cognitive abilities, such as reduced dexterity, attention and memory, can make digital interaction more challenging. [1]

This is where tangible user interfaces become particularly interesting. Instead of relying solely on abstract digital elements, they connect digital functions to physical objects that users can touch. Research shows that NFC-based systems seem to be well accepted by seniors and can encourage greater engagement with digital technology. Because the interaction is linked to familiar physical actions, users can rely on existing knowledge and experiences rather than learning entirely new interaction patterns. [2]

What I found particularly interesting about Enna Care is that it does not try to force users to adapt to technology. Instead, it adapts the technology to the users. By using NFC cards as physical objects that relate to digital functions, the system reduces complexity and makes interaction feel more familiar.

When designing for elderly people, the goal might not always be to simplify existing digital interfaces. In some cases, it may be more effective to rethink the interaction itself and build on users’ existing mental models. Maybe also a hybrid interface that combines analog and digital interaction could be a solution.

Sources

[1] G. A. Wildenbos, L. Peute, and M. Jaspers, “Aging barriers influencing mobile health usability for older adults: A literature based framework (MOLD-US),” International Journal of Medical Informatics, vol. 114, pp. 66–75, Jun. 2018, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2018.03.012.

[2] E. de la GuĂ­a, M. D. Lozano, and V. M. R. Penichet, ‘Increasing engagement in elderly people through tangible and distributed user interfaces’, in Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, Oldenburg, Germany, 2014, pp. 390–393.

★5 Design Research – From Project to Product

Pitch

I believe everyone knows this situation: you go home to visit your family and within the first five minutes someone says, “I deleted the internet,” “Can you fix my phone,” or “I got this email from the ÖGK again, I don’t understand it.” And before you know it, you’ve spent the next five hours solving technical problems instead of actually spending time with your loved ones.

Many people over the age of 50 today do not have sufficient digital literacy for basic everyday tasks. This includes using common communication tools, identifying misleading information or scams and independently accessing information to form their own opinions about what is happening in the world. As a result, they often depend on others for support and miss the opportunity to fully participate in digital society.

This raises an important question: how can we support this generation in becoming more confident and independent in the digital world?

My idea is a dedicated learning platform that teaches digital literacy to older adults in an accessible and supportive way. Instead of overwhelming users with complex interfaces, it focuses on small, everyday learning steps that are easy to understand and immediately applicable. The platform could combine short guided lessons, interactive exercises and real-life scenarios, such as recognizing scams, using messaging apps or navigating government services online. It also provides on-demand help when users get stuck, so learning becomes part of daily life rather than a separate, intimidating process.

This platform would not only improve individual confidence and independence, but also reduce the constant need for family members to provide technical support. This allows families to shift their time and energy from troubleshooting problems to spending more meaningful time together. Ultimately, the goal is not just to teach technology, but to enable participation, confidence and connection in a digital society.

Video

Can be found in the OneDrive: VIDEOLINK