Design in Japan and US
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This is a presentation I gave for Japanese Design Community in SF/ Bay Area. I talk about two design philosophies for Japan and US while touching on usability, aesthetics and User Experience. This was an interactive session where I shared examples with the audience and shared opinions about design.
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Design in Japan and US
- 3. Design in US and Japan
- 4. Can you tell me your favorite Japanese or US product? 1. Playstation 2. MUJI ( toothbrush holder, Naoto Fukasawa’s CD player) 3. Mizuno golf clubs - Plastic food that displays at a restaurant - Polyvore - iPhone - Natto - Going to Maido at Japan Town for stationary products
- 5. 1. EMOTIONAL DESIGN (APPLIED TO PACKAGING)
- 7. Wrap Rage!
- 9. Perforations, tear taps and other easy-to-open solutions are available to some
- 12. TAKES ONLY 5 SECONDS TO APPEAL
- 13. iPod package design by Andy Dreyfus, 2001
- 14. Panasonic Note package design by Sholtz and Friends, 2010
- 15. Nobilin pill dispenser design by BBDO, 2011 (Germany)
- 16. PACKAGING DESIGN IN JAPAN
- 17. Typical packaged sweets at a department store
- 18. Furoshiki has been used for wrapping gifts
- 19. JAPANESE PACKAGE DESIGN TRAITS
- 20. “KAWAII” FACTOR
- 21. Candies with cute cat pictures are popular
- 22. EASY-TO-OPEN
- 23. Packaging design for cube castilla cake from Fukusaya in Japan
- 24. Packaging design was invented by a deli shop in Japan
- 25. The lid and the cup’s label are facing the same direction, Nissin cup noodles
- 26. 2. MINIMALISM
- 27. THE ROOTS OF MINIMALISM
- 28. IN JAPAN
- 29. Wabi Sabi is the root of Japanese aesthetics of minimalism
- 30. IN THE U.S
- 31. 1.De Stijl artistic movement 2. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 3. Japanese traditional design
- 34. MUJI’S DESIGN PHILOSOPHY “sometimes simplicity surpasses splendor”
- 35. Mr. Kenya Hara, MUJI’s art director & visual designer
- 37. MUJI and Tea House represents the core belief of MUJI
- 38. Poster, 2006 “What happens naturally”
- 39. DIFFERENCE IN MINIMALISM JAPAN VS. WESTERN
- 40. Japanese traditional Chef’s knifeHenckels’ Chef’s knife
Editor's Notes
- Thank you so much for coming to the event tonight! I am so excited to have you here. Japanese Design Community is for people who are interested in design in the U.S and Japan and looking to connect with like minded individuals. We have a Facebook group for discussion and bi-monthly event. We are always looking for feedback and your preferences about next events. Please let us know. Also if you are interested in getting involved or speaking at one of our future events, please come to talk to me after. Lastly I have an exciting announcement! The next event is going to be a tour of Btrax which is a cross-cultural design agency and has a strong presence in both Japan and the Bay Area. After the tour we are also planning to have Betrax’s UX Designer to talk about the experience of designing for US and Japanese audiences. It’ll be on 11/4. The details will be up on Facebook page and Meetup.com when available.
- Having lived in both Japan and the U.S., I noticed each country has some unique approaches to product design and we can learn from both cultures. Today I would like to shine some light on some useful product design philosophies that have caught my eye over the years. Since product design is a broad topic, I will only focus on a couple of design philosophies: Emotional design and Minimalism. I will draw on examples of products from both the US and Japan to illustrate how these design philosophies are used in both countries.
- The first design philosophy I want to talk about is emotional design. Emotions play a crucial role in how people choose products and engage with them. Also Aaron Walter, VP of Design Education @InVision told us how important emotional experiences are because they make a profound imprint on our long-term memory. I’ll discuss this through examples of product packaging. Let’s first look at where emotional design was overlooked.
- How many people here can relate to this image?
- This is called ‘Wrap Rage.” According to Wikipedia, this is a common term to express the level of frustration resulting from the inability to open hard-to-open packaging. This type of package is commonly seen in the US, and you may be surprised to hear that people sometime use unsafe tools such as razor blades or ice picks to try to open. Needless to say, people injure themselves and in 2004, it was reported that over 6000 people ended up in the emergency room.
- Why? The package designers intended to avoid potential shoplifting, to help protect the contents and to make the product clearly visible through the transparent packaging for legal reasons.
- In response to obvious consumer complains, some US manufacturers started to put perforations or slits to the hard-to-open plastic packaging.
- Furthermore, some product companies started to realize the importance of getting the package design right to incite positive emotional connection with the consumers. For example: Apple. How many people here own an iPhone or a Mac? How many people still have the packaging boxes?
- For those of you said that you still keep the packaging, may be due to the positive sensory experience you had with the packaging.
- ‘Sensory experience’ is the first experience customers have with a product through their physical senses. Packaging is perceived to be part of the product. Even more interestingly, a research found that shoppers look at a package for about 5 seconds to decide whether to pick it up or not. That means sending consumers a focused message becomes very important.
- Look at the Apple’s packaging; Their packaging is as visually appealing as their iPod. Let’s take a look at more of the well-designed packaging examples:
- Panasonic’s award winning ear phone package speaks itself that this is made for listening to music. The clever use of the music note would be understood by many different cultures.
- Next Nobilin pill is a medicine for a stomach irritation that is caused by animal based food products. The packaging design was successful because first the image of common stock animals give associations to the food. Second, with the removal of each pill, consumers will emotionally relate to how each pill will help them feel better.
- NOW, How is the packaging design used and perceived in Japan?
- Japanese love package designs. If you go to a store, you will see shelves after shelves filled with visually appealing packages.
- In Japan, the tradition of gift packaging has been around for a long time. People originally used a piece of cloth called Huroshiki to package a gift.
- Now let’s look at some traits in Japanese packaging designs
- It is effective to Incorporate Kawaii (cuteness) in packaging design. It is especially recommended to have cute pictures like this one:
- or characters like Mickey Mouse in your package designs to attract young women.
- Another common thing that I see in Japanese packaging is that A package can be opened easily.
- For example, this package FOR A CAKE can be opened by peeling the perforated area. It should open without any effort. It is also visually appealing.
- Another easy-to-open package we shouldn’t forget ABOUT is the Onigiri that is mainly sold at convenience stores. It is designed in such a way that the seaweed doesn’t get soggy. When it’s time to eat, you can simply pull the corner in the order of the indicated numbers.
- Another example is Nissin cup noodle’s packaging design. The lid and the cup’s label are facing the same direction. This is more costly to do for a manufacture; however it allows store workers to shelf the product effortlessly. It also displays in an organized way to appeal to consumers.
- Next let’s talk about the second design philosophy. Minimalism has been a design trend. It works well because it focuses on clarity and functionality making it work well for users to achieve their goals.
- Let’s take a quick look at the roots of minimalist design in both countries:
- Japanese aesthetics of minimalism and austerity are called Wabi Sabi.
- Wabi Sabi was initially derived from Buddhism and refined by a renowned Japanese tea master called Sen no Rikyu in 16th century.
- In comparison, let’s look at the U.S. for the history of minimalism:
- In the U.S. the minimalism is said to have started around the 1920s. It was driven from three influential events: 1. The Style, an artistic movement in Netherland that emphasized simplicity and abstraction. 2. the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s work. 3. Japanese traditional design also influenced U.S’s minimalist style of design.
- When talking about Japanese design, I cannot forget about one of the most influential product companies in Japan.
- How many people know about Muji?
- Muji’s design philosophy is driven by Wabi Sabi. Muji strives to deliver products that are stripped down to functionalities. Their concept is “sometimes simplicity surpasses splendor”. MUJI’s products’ simplicity helps users to be creative on how to use the products.
- In the words of Muji’s art director, the Japanese notion of minimalism is “emptiness.” He says that his products can be used in different situations based on users’ needs. Here are some posters which express the company's design philosophy - let’s take a look:
- The first one shows the idea of emptiness to express the company’s design philosophy.
- This one talks about how Muji’s tea cup can adapt to any environment because of it’s simplicity.
- The next one is about how users can use products creatively.
- According to Mr. Hara, Japanese and Western simplicity is different.
- Here is an example of Chef’s knives that are sold in the two countries. The one on the left is made by a famous German brand but is also popular in the U.S. and the one on the right is from Japan. Look at the one on the left, If you look at the handle closely, you can tell that the handle is curved to provide an easy grip. This is commonly called ergonomic design. Ergonomics is a practice to understand users’ limits and find the fit between the user, tool and their environment. The purpose is to make the product easy to use and to prevent injuries. On the right side we have a traditional Japanese Chef’s knife. Do you notice that the handle is plain? Some may wonder if this is because the design isn’t polished. On the contrary, Japanese chefs prefer having this kind of plain handle because they can use it however they like based on their skill level.
- Hopefully this presentation has giving you some insights into how emotional design and minimalism design principles have been effective applied in both Japan and the U.S. There are many things that we learn from each culture and I hope that through our meetup we can deepen our knowledge about design. Thank you for being such a wonderful audience! Let’s open up to comments or questions?