And sometimes that’s true, but usually there are very good, and highly profitable, reasons Japanese websites and Japanese software looks the way

The lies, myths, and secrets of Japanese UI design

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Style Pass
2023-03-18 17:00:09

And sometimes that’s true, but usually there are very good, and highly profitable, reasons Japanese websites and Japanese software looks the way it does.

Today I sit down and talk (and argue a bit) with Brandon Hill about how Japanese design got this way, and the new direction it’s currently heading.

For the last 20 years, there’s been this steady stream of Western designers explaining how Japanese web design is “broken”. Now, those critics often make some good points, but they usually completely misunderstand the underlying reasons that Japanese design is the way it is.

Today we’re going to address these criticisms once and for all as we sit down over a beer with my old friend Brandon Hill. Now Brandon runs btrax, a design and market entry consultancy based in San Francisco. And for the past 10 years, Brandon’s been working with Japanese firms to get their design and UI ready for the American markets and with American firms to get their design and UI ready for the Japanese markets.

In terms of practical hands-on experience, Brandon probably knows more than anyone in the world about the reasons Japanese and Western UX design are so different. And that’s what we’re going to dig deep into today.

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