Let’s think out loud: Japanese users and maximalist designs

You might have heard of this “fact” (or misconception) that “Japanese users appreciate maximalist design (or high context design)”. I’m also guilty of sharing this widely held “fact” anytime I speak about the preferences of Japanese users.

However, I have been thinking…

Do Japanese users really appreciate maximalist designs?

I wanted to write my thoughts out loud to see if I can put a verdict on this “fact”.

Wait, what is maximalist design?

Maximalist design means creating websites with a lot of content, bold visuals, complex layouts, and a mix of styles and multimedia. It's all about offering users an engaging and visually rich experience - which may be caused by Japan’s history as a high context culture.

My doubts

First of all, I doubt that Japanese users appreciate maximalist designs because globally familiar non-Japanese websites are winning the Japanese market, as evidenced in this Top 50 most accessed websites ranking from GMOTech.

Here’s the top 20 listed from the link:

The one thing I’ve realized from the difference between Google (.com) and Google Japan (.co.jp) is that Google Japan disabled my dark mode and automatically made my webpage white. This goes along with the findings where this Youtube video by Answer in Progress mentioned how Japanese users appreciate bright colored websites.

Deep dive into maximalist design

Let’s dive deeper into 3 actual examples of maximalist website designs* from Japan from the Top 20 list: #2 Yahoo! Japan, #8 Rakuten, #20 Niconico Video.

*Please keep in mind that these websites are also accessed by smartphone users but we will focus on desktop sites for this deep dive.

Yahoo! Japan

Yahoo! Japan is a search engine where you can catch-up on news and other topics. While Yahoo! may no longer be as prominent in its original U.S. market, in Japan, Yahoo! is the homepage for many. And while the search engine feature is prominent, users can also “easily” directly read an article or click through other services.

Here are few questions that come to mind:

How do Japanese users perceive Yahoo! Japan?
Is Yahoo! Japan primarily a search engine or a website where you can collect information?
Is Yahoo! Japan difficult to use? (My Japanese-side would like to mention it’s really easy to use.)
Similarly, do Japanese users think Yahoo! Japan has a good design?

Perception

While I wouldn’t have a concrete answer unless I conduct real user research, I do have a hypothesis that I support with my personal experiences as a Japanese-American who has lived and worked in both countries. Japanese users may appreciate Yahoo! Japan because they like to have information come to them rather than search (or Google) for information.

For example, my mother often shares articles she finds on Yahoo! Japan. (I’m certain she’s on Yahoo! Japan everyday.) The other day she shared a video of a dog was getting its nails clipped. (because she wants to clip our dogs nail) Then, I researched a little bit about dog nails, and shared back more information with her. She was surprised with my additional information because she didn’t really think to research further. On the other hand, my sister-in-law “Googles” everything.

To be fair, my hypothesis could be related to the generational gap. Younger generation may be more “information seekers” and learned at an early age to confirm the information you see on the internet. This probably suggests why Google is ultimately more popular than Yahoo! Japan.

This article by VALUES shows the users of search engines by age group. You can see from the chart above that the younger generation has higher Google users than Yahoo! Japan. (Blue is Google, Orange is Yahoo! Japan) Qualitatively, from this post on Chiebukuro (Yahoo! Japan’s version of Quora), you can read that users appreciate Yahoo! Japan because they can read breaking news while they use Google to search things. From this SEO blog article, you can find that Google has 70-80% market share in terms of search engine and Yahoo! Japan has less than 20%. It feels unfair to compare Yahoo! Japan and Google because it seems that Japanese users take different actions in each site.

Going back to talking about designs, in terms of “having information come to users”, Yahoo! Japan may be an optimized design. What would the American equivalent be? Yahoo! or CNN, maybe? How do you find breaking news?

Navigation

I am also hypothesizing that Yahoo! Japan is not just a search-engine but also a browser homepage that will help you get important information or navigate to another page. You can see how the navigation is linked to every section of the website. It is definitely a portal.

These links are also easy to go through with keyboard shortcuts like TAB. That being said, it isn’t the most accessible since it’ll take many many many TAB clicks to get to the bottom. (At least it’s TAB accessible though?)

Designs

While Yahoo! Japan looks overwhelmingly dense, I think it’s still very straightforward and easy to use. It doesn’t have the modern design feel but the sections and links are intuitive to navigate.

It seems like Yahoo! Japan has been building out design systems and implementing them. (1, 2, 3) I’m curious to see if they will update their website to more trending design elements in the near future.

Rakuten (eCommerce)

Let’s move on to Rakuten. In Japan, Rakuten is a popular eCommerce marketplace, similar to Amazon, with other services like travel, finances, etc. Honestly, Rakuten is the reason why I’ve been sharing “Japanese users appreciate maximalist design” because I thought they were far more popular and shopped compared to Amazon. However, I have been corrected.

From this article that surveyed Japanese people about their preference between Rakuten and Amazon and this article from Quora Japan, you can find that Amazon is more popular than Rakuten. Amazon is also accessed more compared to Rakuten.

However, you may have the same thought as me:

Is Amazon even considered a minimal design?

Here’s a screenshot of Amazon homepage in case you forgot what it looks like since the past 24 hours you’ve last accessed it.

If anything, if you check out Rakuten and Amazon side by side, it doesn’t look that different. I wonder if the popularity comes from user experience and customer support experience differences rather than a user interface design difference.

I’ve decided to take a look at three pages from Rakuten and Amazon.

Homepage
Search results of “printer” (to represent product listing page)
Product detail page of a random printer (not sponsored one)

Homepage

Like I’ve said earlier, it doesn’t look that different between Rakuten and Amazon. However, I did notice one big difference.

Rakuten also acts like a portal in addition to being an eCommerce website. The gray horizontal navigation on the top leads to Rakuten’s other services.

This led to a few questions:

Is Rakuten not perceived as an eCommerce website?
How do Japanese users browse eCommerce websites? (Categories, search, or browse from homepage? Also, I feel like I should know this answer…)
Why are there other navigations to other services? Does that not lead to increasing bounce rates?
Is having both vertical and horizontal navigations UI/UX friendly?

This needs further research to answer these questions. The one thing I can say is that Rakuten is building (or already has built) a cross-function ecosystem you can do most things in life like buy most products or services with a Rakuten account. Per my observation, it seems to me that every Rakuten service has a global navigation that leads to all of its other services.

I was wrong. Rakuten Travel did not have a prominent navigation where you could go to other services - besides “sponsored ads” for Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten eCommerce.

Search results page

This is the search results page. Looks pretty straightforward to me. Observation, once you’re a page deep into Rakuten eCommerce, the gray horizontal global navigation disappears.

Here’s few things I’ve realized from this page:

The prices are all in red. Are they on sale? (No.)
Product titles are cut to two lines. I feel like the most important part of the product titles are being cut short.
Filters don’t have check boxes or radio buttons.

But overall, the “cluttered” feeling isn’t too different from Amazon, does it? Are these optimal global marketplace designs?

Product detail page

Okay, now this is a lot. I was surprised how different the product detail page was designed for Rakuten.

I had to read through most of the text to understand what’s going on. The call to action buttons being red, the same colors as the Rakuten logo and search bars, price, etc., doesn’t help me make an action.

Now, I’m not here to make suggestions today. However, coming to this page makes me realize how much more intuitive Amazon feels to add to cart. I’d have to research more about what Japanese users think about Rakuten.

Conclusion

Both Rakuten and Amazon may be considered a maximalist design. That may be the optimal design for eCommerce marketplaces. However, the reason behind Amazon’s popularity may be that Amazon is better at utilizing information architecture/hierarchy that makes users obtain information they need quicker. (& their customer support as well.)

Niconico Video

Niconico Video is a video sharing social media platform similar to Youtube and/or Twitch. Youtube is definitely accessed more than Niconico Video, but the big difference isn’t the design but could be moreso that Youtube is a global platform with tons of content compared to Niconico Video which is local to Japan only. Comments here mention the amount of content Youtube has and how Niconico Video requires you to have an account.

At first glance, Niconico Video doesn’t seem like a maximalist design. However, the more you scroll through the page you will find other features that Niconico Video provides.

Niconico Video, homepage scrolled down even further
Definitely a lot of content on one homepage. Similar questions arises:
How do Japanese users navigate through websites?
Is scrolling more intuitive for Japanese users?
Besides that, Niconico Video has a modern design feel compared to Yahoo! Japan or Rakuten. Could it be the difference in target audience?

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this far. Honestly, I’m not sure if I was able to figure out if Japanese users appreciate maximalist designs. What I was able to understand from this are:

While local companies make it in the top accessed websites, Western companies win at most sectors compared against to local companies
Japanese users may have different perception and expectations for each services they use
- E.g. Yahoo! Japan vs. Google
A homepage of a website acts as a portal

Now, I do have other “facts” (or misconception) that goes along with this maximalist design “fact” (or misconception).

Japanese users do in fact don’t mind scrolling down (because they use their index fingers to navigate their smartphones)
Japanese people have different perceptions on color. For example, (depending on context) red doesn’t have a negative connotation and is often used to attract attention - not just in alerts. That being said, in Japanese street and traffic signs, red is still indicative of danger and caution.

These need to be further looked into as well.

After this deep dive, I would love to research further into the following:

Are multi-actionable websites (like a portal) intuitive?
Does the navigation correlate with high context culture?
Why don’t companies like Yahoo! Japan modernize their design?

If you have additional research insights, please do share them with me. I’d love to keep this conversation going as I am a cross-cultural UX Researcher who helps companies enter and localize to Japanese (or the United States) markets.

I will probably come back with another article soon.

Let’s think out loud: Japanese users and maximalist designs

Wait, what is maximalist design?

My doubts