An example of Web design: A case study of Japanese web design

Article Description: in many people's eyes, Japan is a tolerant, Zen-loving country. It is famous for its temples, tea ceremonies and electronic products. It's both traditional and modern. Japan's architectural design, books and periodicals designed by the world attention. But somehow, the style of web design in Japan is very strange. A bit like the 1998 Web style.

In many people's eyes, Japan is a tolerant, Zen-loving country. It is famous for its temples, tea ceremonies and electronic products. It's both traditional and modern. Japan's architectural design, books and periodicals designed by the world attention. But somehow, the style of web design in Japan is very strange. A bit like the 1998 Web style.

Rakuten

Niconicodouga

Gigazine

Look at the most popular websites in Japan (such as Goo, Rakuten, Yomiuri, NicoNico, Okwave, @cosme) and you'll find that they all have something in common:

Text is tightly packed
Low image quality
Too many page columns
The bright glare of the colors and the flashing banner
Excessive use of outdated technologies, such as Flash

Why are other Japanese designers so good at web design so bad? There are many reasons, as follows:

Language differences

Photo by shootjapan.com

Ideographic Text – both Chinese and Japanese belong to ideographic text, a few words, but the amount of information can be very large. In the eyes of Westerners, these words may appear to be mixed, but can allow Japanese users to express a lot of meaning in a short time.

lack of emphasis – Japanese has no italics and no capital letters, unlike Latin, many provide visual cues by capitalization and tilt. Therefore, the information level organization of Japanese text is not particularly easy, the designer needs the column, the graph to carry on the information stratification.

language barrier -most programming languages on the Internet are designed by Westerners and English speakers. A lot of resources and materials are embodied in English. So the introduction of new technologies and trends into Japan will require a period of delay.

Cultural differences

Danger avoidance – in Japanese culture, risk-taking and out of bounds are discouraged. Once something has a precedent, many people will follow, regardless of whether this precedent is the best solution to the problem. Many of Japan's popular styles are the same, with a little conservative.

Consumer Awareness – The Japanese are very defensive and tend to read technical specifications and product descriptions carefully, and will not easily be tempted by headlines or images before making a purchase decision. The theory of "less is more" does not apply here, and the Japanese need detailed product descriptions.

Advertising Awareness – Many Japanese companies regard the Internet as a promotional platform rather than a powerful integrated tool. In their eyes, the internet is just like brochures, small space-intensive information campaigns, rather than an effective interactive tool.

City Culture -Stroll Tokyo Shibuya, you will be the ubiquitous neon signs "attack", noisy pinball room, noisy crowd mainly composed of office workers and students. This complexity is also reflected in the Internet. In addition, Japan's small area, cherish the land, such as gold, space can not have shred waste, so this concept embodied in the Web design , Japan's web site is rarely used to leave white.

Job Requirements -let's take a look at the Japanese recruitment ads, you will find that often so write "recruit network Master", "Recruitment network administrator", let me feel as if back to more than 10 years ago, when the company recruit it people, are the requirements of coding, operation, design single-handedly- And there are still a lot of companies doing so in Japan today. So a lot of potential, talented Japanese web designers have chosen to find another place to do their job elsewhere.

Technical differences

Photo by Scion_cho

Mobile phone sequelae -before the iphone was popular, Japan's mobile penetration was very objective, when the Japanese mobile phone with a clamshell majority, so the mobile internet specifically for clamshell phone optimization. So, now the Japanese web design is deeply affected, like to cram content into a small space.

Network Fonts -non-Latin language fonts are rare (Chinese, Japanese. , mainly because of the difference between ideographic and phonography, each word needs to be adjusted, which is time-consuming to design. So Japanese designers prefer to use pictures to avoid the use of non-standard fonts.

Windows XP & IE 6– Despite the rapid development of hardware and software, many people are using win XP and IE6, especially in the company.

Above, that is roughly what a few

Walking around Tokyo, I always feel that I am in the "vision of the Future" in the 80 's, thanks largely to Japanese architecture.

On the one hand, I see a lot of Japanese design in a large number of concocted, very outdated, the slightest consideration of the current design trends.

On the other hand, I see a lot of craftsmen, meticulous in doing things, works incredibly beautiful and practical.

Of course, a part of the Japanese web design is still good, like Uniqlo,muji, Cookpad and Kinokuniya site, features and forms. Let's take a look at it!

Uniqlo

Ishiyama Senkoh

Toyota Municipal Museum of Art

Hanamichiya

Swiss

Taromagazine

Takeo Paper Show

Original address: Randomwire