Japanese Web Design
A recent article from the Japan Times called “Why Japan’s internet looks weird – unless you live here” goes into details about Japanese aesthetics, with a particular focus on why websites designed in Japan tend to look the way that they do. Unfortunately the article appears to be paywalled now, although it wasn’t when I first read it.
If memory serves correctly, the writer talks about expectations for web design being pretty different. One example is the variety of options expected to be included in search engines, like the ones used on apartment rental websites. More generally, the writer points out, websites designed in other parts of the world can be considered too sparse or empty for Japanese tastes.
The writer notes that traveling through city streets in Japan, one can’t help but feel sensory overload from all the signs, lights, and advertisements everywhere. It’s not a big leap from those city sights to understand the maximalist design principles at play on Japanese Internet.
I confess that I tend to prefer a fair amount of empty space with few distractions for websites, especially when it comes to blogs or news articles. If the main purpose of the site is to offer up something to be read, then the reading should be effortless, at least in my humble opinion.
With that said, it’s wonderful to see the throw-everything-and-the-kitchen-sink design philosophy at play. Folks should have fun with websites. Never know what might start a new trend that sticks.
Below are just a few of my favourite Japanese website designs.
Itoi Shigesato’s website, Hobonichi, has had a few different looks since it started in 1998, each one of them interesting and readable. Makes sense that the guy famous for making stylish planners and schedules would have solid web design instincts.
bbynews is another example found right here on Neocities. This one exemplifies the sort of bare-bones news aggregators common to Japan. Probably takes a little inspiration from certain bulletin boards as well. This look fell out of fashion in the English-speaking web many decades ago, which is a shame because sometimes you just want a nice long list of links to look at. The lite version of CNN’s website is about the only English-language example I can think of (there are surely others).
Ylvania’s design has not changed in over twenty years. It’s a clean blog design that harkens back to a simpler time on the web. Many Neocities websites seem to look like it. Nice to see us come full circle.
For my own online presence, I used to spend a little more time thinking about design and layout. These days I want it to be as unintrusive as possible. I don’t really want to type out HTML tags by hand anymore. Let me write a post in Markdown and be done with it. I suppose that’s why I’ve switched to a static site generator.