The Truth About Japanese Visuals: Why It’s Not Just ‘Messy’

Comments · 198

• VI

  @victornguyen1175 · 1 month ago

  Japanese thumbnails remind me of how Yahoo used to look.

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• TH

  @ThePallidor · 1 month ago

  There's a forth factor: Japanese consumers simply want more detail. Even articles in Japanese have way more preamble and cushioning and general handholding.

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• MI

  @misubi · 1 month ago

  It's surprising because Japan in other contexts like design, architecture, pottery etc. values simplicity and clean elegant design.

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• LE

  @LeeLloyd · 1 month ago

  I&apos;ve seen this discussion over dozens of videos, for years now, and it always leaves out an important part of the subject. As a designer who has been working for both big and small clients for 40 years, and who has friends who work at both Amazon and Rakuten, I can tell you, if you let any client in the entire world dictate the design, they would all look like Japanese designs. Sales departments at clients all over the world, all have the same instinct that you describe in Japanese design, which is they want to explain everything, list every spec, leave nothing out that might convince a customer, and put in every bit of information you can imagine a consumer might want to know. You can see this in action in the west, with either local ads for small companies, or these days in materials companies did themselves with AI, with no designer involved.<br><br>The real cultural difference that determines the different look, isn&apos;t really language, it is work culture. In western companies, the design department, or outside design firm, has the ability to say no. They are afforded enough power in the process that they can explain that while you might want to include that information, it actually isn&apos;t a good idea, even when it is the CEO or high ranking sales executive suggesting the information should be there. In most situations, that just isn&apos;t the case in Japan. The designer that is always telling their boss/client no, isn&apos;t going to keep their job/contract very long. They are treated as a person who is there to do what they are told, not an expert who is an important member of the team, with an equal say in the final design. As a result, they have to make the best they can of a design that has a massive list of things that need to be included, to keep their boss/client happy, rather than being free to make the best design they can come up with.<br><br>It is a less interesting or exotic answer, I know, but it honestly is where 90% of the difference comes from. Because I assure you, there is nothing special about the English language, or Western Civilization, that stops an executive with no marketing experience, from requestion a screen that is a jumbled wall of text, full of everything they can possibly think of. It happens all the time in western companies.

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• JE

  @jesse123185 · 1 month ago

  I think something to remember is that the minimalist aesthetic has increased in the west. Sometimes I remember all the information we used to have on sales web pages and advertisements for products perhaps not always as thorough as the Japanese standard but it&apos;s certainly trended this way over time

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• AY

  @ayeda69 · 1 month ago

  Nao, this is a great topic. &nbsp;I&apos;m an Arab born and raised in the West, and was baffled by the websites of the Arab world (and &quot;Middle East&quot;) - they had a similar busy style that you spoke about in Japanese websites. &nbsp;Now I wonder if something similar is at play here - that such presentation is rooted in earlier cultural practices. &nbsp;To think about it off the top of my head, the websites remind me of the old &quot;miniatures&quot; of the near East from Iran, Afghanistan, and even further east to Mongolia. &nbsp;Very busy pages of text and colourful illustrations to convey very detailed stories. &nbsp;I will keep your ideas in mind the next time I go to an Arabic website and the next time I go to a museum that has miniatures. &nbsp;Thank you for the great video essay!

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• GR

  @greenyonder · 1 month ago

  As someone who reads &amp; speaks Japanese as a second (actually third) language, I found this description of different messaging the language implies based on kana &amp; kanji use and design in addition to the actual &quot;words&quot; very reassuring. I always assumed I scanned the Japanese world in a very different way than native readers did, absorbing information in a less detailed and understood way because I didn&apos;t always understand all the kanji. I now see how the different kana &amp; kanji &amp; fonts &amp; positioning &amp; colours were delivering their message to me despite my often limited kanji understanding. I too learned to scan the SHIN of New Product and without focussing on the details of the next 2 kanji, but the general shape as fitting the expected word (based on colour and position and design) and knew what they were saying. Slightly different to a native reader, but absorbing messages beyond the actual focussed reading of everything in the ad. Very fascinating. Thank you.

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• PE

  @pedro_8240 · 1 month ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPQMDPYSPwc&amp;t=39">0:39</a> yeah, I doubt it.

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• KA

  @kakaiyu · 1 month ago

  This reminds me of something I&apos;ve observed about Japanese culture--and this might be a good video idea--is that Japan still values things being on paper compared to the west. There&apos;s more appreciation for things on paper, if that makes sense? Super nice stationery, mandatory physical paperwork, doujinshi culture, the prevalence of manga, cheap merchandise such as clearfiles and character cards, etc.

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• RO

  @robhaines3 · 1 month ago (edited)

  I&apos;ve wondered this for some time and your reasoning was very informative. Culturally, the &apos;complex&apos; design, now that I think about it, I believe is really about respect for others, not just about hospitality for hospitality sake. Japanese are always thinking about what other people think, how not to disrupt the peace and state of others. Including everything a person needs to understand within an ad is their way of preventing disruptive questioning.

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• IT

  @Its_just_me_again · 1 month ago

  Imo knowing the reason behind the designs gives context but they are still busy af :) thanks for your video; very interesting

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• GR

  @gretadamico3735 · 1 month ago

  Such an interesting and thoughtful video! I really like that you went to the Ad Museum to do research! I think Japanese design DOES look very busy to my Western eyes, but I think once you’ve seen something a hundred times, it becomes like pattern recognition, like you said, and not so taxing on the brain. I learned a lot from watching this. Thanks!

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