A Book Release For Click! And A Chance To Rethink Our Routines — Smashing Magazine

A Human Touch for a Book About Honest Design

Click! How to Encourage Clicks Without Shady Tricks, the latest book from Paul Boag, began shipping in June. To mark the release, the first 500 customers who preordered received a signed postcard from Boag. The artwork for those postcards was designed by Ricardo Gimenez, and the response on social media was immediate and warm — readers shared photos of their copies arriving, some noting they were reading it immediately or that it showed up on a birthday. It was a small, personal gesture that resonated.

Boag is a familiar voice in the Smashing Library, having authored three books for the imprint, and he has also written articles for Smashing Magazine and appeared on the Smashing Podcast and SmashingTV. But Click! is notable not just for its authorship. The book's visual identity comes from Veerle Pieters, the illustrator behind the cover for the first Smashing Magazine Print edition. Her contributions to the cover and interior templates for Click! are part of what makes the book feel less like a manual and more like a considered piece of design work.

Why Dark Patterns Fail in the Long Run

The book arrives at a moment when many teams are reassessing how they work. Routines have been disrupted, productivity has shifted, and for some, creative energy is hard to come by. That context matters, because the book's core argument is about resisting the pressure to take shortcuts.

Boag's central premise is that dark patterns are not just ethically dubious — they are bad for business. He explains that designers and marketers under pressure to hit conversion targets often turn to manipulative techniques not out of malice but out of desperation. The book makes the case that those tactics are ultimately damaging from a purely commercial standpoint, and then spends most of its length exploring what to do instead: concrete strategies for improving conversion rates without relying on gimmicks or deception.

“People are under enormous pressure to improve their conversion rates. Marketers have got targets they’ve got to meet, designers are under pressure ... people are inevitably turning to dark patterns. Not because they want to, but because they’re under pressure to. They’re under pressure to bring about results.

So the premise of this book is, first of all, to explain why dark patterns are a bad idea. I talk about it from a purely business point of view, that these are the business reasons why dark patterns are ultimately damaging. And then that inevitably leads to the question of, well, if dark patterns aren’t the answer, then what is?

The majority of the book is exploring what you can do to improve your conversion rate without resorting to these kinds of more manipulative techniques.”

— Paul Boag, Smashing Podcast Episode 12

For readers looking for more of Boag’s thinking, Smashing has published several of his articles on landing page design and convincing stakeholders to avoid dark patterns. There are also related resources on staying energized at a desk job, plus the magazine’s community wallpaper collection and curated guides. Smashing Membership includes access to eBooks, the job board, and discounts across the store.

Part of a Larger Catalog

Click! joins a lineup of printed books from Smashing that aim to outlast the current moment. The editorial mission remains consistent: publishing practical guidance from experienced web professionals. Recent and related titles worth exploring include works from authors like Trine, Alla, and Adam, who have each brought their own expertise to the library. Further reading on pricing projects, saying no to freelance work, and the role of content in web design continues in that vein.