Dr. Colin M. Gray

Purdue University

Dr. Colin M. Gray

Purdue University

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Academic Career Length

16Years (2011-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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21 April 2018

Conference Paper

The Dark (Patterns) Side of UX Design

Colin M. Gray

Yubo Kou

Bryan Battles

Joseph Hoggatt

Austin Toombs

11 May 2024

Conference Paper

An Ontology of Dark Patterns Knowledge: Foundations, Definitions, and a Pathway for Shared Knowledge-Building

Colin M. Gray

Cristiana Teixeira Santos

Nataliia Bielova

Thomas Mildner

Deceptive and coercive design practices are increasingly used by companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit consumer choice. Dark patterns represent the most common contemporary amalgamation of these problematic practices, connecting designers, technologists, scholars, regulators, and legal professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue. However, a lack of universally accepted definitions across the academic, legislative, practitioner, and regulatory space has likely limited the impact that scholarship on dark patterns might have in supporting sanctions and evolved design practices. In this paper, we seek to support the development of a shared language of dark patterns, harmonizing ten existing regulatory and academic taxonomies of dark patterns and proposing a three-level ontology with standardized definitions for 64 synthesized dark pattern types across low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate how this ontology can support translational research and regulatory action, including transdisciplinary pathways to extend our initial types through new empirical work across application and technology domains.

2 May 2019

Conference Paper

Ethical Mediation in UX Practice

Colin M. Gray

Shruthi Sai Chivukula

HCI scholars have become increasingly interested in describing the complex nature of UX practice. In parallel, HCI and STS scholars have sought to describe the ethical and value-laden relationship between designers and design outcomes. However, little research describes the ethical engagement of UX practitioners as a form of design complexity, including the multiple mediating factors that impact ethical awareness and decision-making. In this paper, we use a practice-led approach to describe ethical complexity, presenting three varied cases of UX practitioners based onin situ observations and interviews. In each case, we describe salient factors relating to ethical mediation, including organizational practices, self-driven ethical principles, and unique characteristics of specific projects the practitioner is engaged in. Using the concept of mediation from activity theory, we provide a rich account of practitioners' ethical decision making. We propose future work on ethical awareness and design education based on the concept of ethical mediation.

7 May 2016

Conference Paper

"It's More of a Mindset Than a Method"

Colin M. Gray

There has been increasing interest in the work practices of user experience (UX) designers, particularly in relation to approaches that support adoption of human-centered principles in corporate environments. This paper addresses the ways in which UX designers conceive of methods that support their practice, and the methods they consider necessary as a baseline competency for beginning user experience designers. Interviews were conducted with practitioners in a range of companies, with differing levels of expertise and educational backgrounds represented. Interviewees were asked about their use of design methods in practice, and the methods they considered to be core of their practice; in addition, they were asked what set of methods would be vital for beginning designers joining their company. Based on these interviews, I evaluate practitioner conceptions of design methods, proposing an appropriation-oriented mindset that drives the use of tool knowledge, supporting designers' practice in a variety of corporate contexts. Opportunities are considered for future research in the study of UX practice and training of students in human-computer interaction programs.

21 June 2014

Conference Paper

Reprioritizing the relationship between HCI research and practice

Colin M. Gray

Erik Stolterman

Martin A. Siegel

There has been an ongoing conversation about the role and relationship of theory and practice in the HCI community. This paper explores this relationship privileging a practice perspective through a tentative model, which describes a "bubble-up" of ideas from practice to inform research and theory development, and an accompanying "trickle-down" of theory into practice. Interviews were conducted with interaction designers, which included a description of their use of design methods in practice, and their knowledge and use of two common design methods-affinity diagramming and the concept of affordance. Based on these interviews, potential relationships between theory and practice are explored through this model. Disseminating agents already common in HCI practice are addressed as possible mechanisms for the research community to understand practice more completely. Opportunities for future research, based on the use of the tentative model in a generative way, are considered.

6 October 2015 in Performance Improvement Quarterly

Journal Article

Judgment and Instructional Design: How ID Practitioners Work In Practice

Colin M. Gray

Cesur Dagli

Muruvvet Demiral-Uzan

Funda Ergulec

Verily Tan

Elizabeth Boling

In this study, we address the relative lack of rigorous research on instructional design (ID) practice via an exploratory study in which pairs of researchers observed design judgments made by eight practicing instructional designers in two consulting environments as they went about their normal work activities. In our analysis, we sought to characterize their practice on its own terms, rather than through superimposition of existing ID models or frameworks. A nonprescriptive, philosophical framework of design judgment by Nelson and Stolterman (2012) was operationalized and used to frame two phases of analysis: identifying and coding design judgments and creating holistic summaries of the observed practice. We found that design judgments occur quite frequently throughout design, often in clustered or layered ways, rather than in “pure” forms. These judgments appeared to be shaped by factors unique to the firm, the role or position of the designer, and project, client, or other external factors.

About Me

Colin M. Gray is an Associate Professor at Purdue University in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology and Associate Professor (by courtesy) in Learning Design & Technology in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. He is program lead for an undergraduate major and graduate concentration in UX Design. He holds appointments as Guest Professor at Beijing Normal University and Visiting Researcher at Newcastle University. He holds a PhD in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University Bloomington, a MEd in Educational Technology from University of South Carolina, and a MA in Graphic Design from Savannah College of Art & Design. He has worked as an art director, contract designer, and trainer, and his involvement in design work informs his research on design activity and how design capability is learned. His research focuses on the ways in which the pedagogy and practice of designers informs the development of design ability, particularly in relation to ethics, design knowledge, and professional identity formation. His work crosses multiple disciplines, including human-computer interaction, instructional design and technology, design theory and education, and engineering and technology education.

Dr. Colin M. Gray

Dr. Colin M. Gray

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About Me