Six Principles or Six Dark Patterns? A Signup Flow Teardown
Objective: Given two synthetic account-funding flow mockups, decide which Cialdini-style cues are honest applications of the six principles and which cross into the FTC's dark-pattern definition.
You're on the trust & safety review team at Robinhood, the commission-free trading app, checking a new account-funding flow mockup before it ships to production.
Read each mockup screen and mark every persuasion cue as a legitimate principle or a dark pattern, citing the lesson's ethics test.
Before you start
What you'll need
Free path (everything below is enough to finish)
Free, simple shareable checklist
The process
Specimens to review
Which cues on this screen are honest applications of reciprocity, authority, or scarcity, and which are dark patterns?
ACCOUNT FUNDING SCREEN DRAFT Headline: "Get a free stock worth up to $200 when you fund your account today" Subtext: "Recommended by financial experts." Banner: "Bonus offer expires in 00:09:47 (timer restarts if you leave and come back)" Button 1 (small, greyed): "Maybe later" Button 2 (large, highlighted): "Fund now and claim bonus"
Specimen: synthetic, realistic
Both lines claim authority. Only one meets the lesson's bar. Which, and why?
ACCOUNT VERIFICATION SCREEN DRAFT Badge: "Verified by a Licensed Financial Advisor" (no name, no license number shown) Separate line: "Portfolio review by Priya Nair, CFP, License #NY-48213 (verify at cfp.net)" Both badges appear next to the same 'Continue' button.
Specimen: synthetic, realistic
Final deliverable
A two-row teardown log marking each cue honest/dark-pattern with the specific lesson rule it passes or fails.
See a reference example
Duolingo onboarding screen audit (excerpt) Cue: "Pick your daily goal before you sign up" — HONEST, real commitment-and-consistency, user sets it themselves Cue: "10,000 people started their streak today" — FLAGGED, no source cited, needs a real counter or removal
Success criteria
You're done when you can:
- Correctly identifies all 3 defects across the two specimens
- Cites the specific lesson section for each defect flagged