Chinese web design is often a cluttered mess. However, between economic, cultural, and typographic reasons, this style is here to stay. Previously, we’ve learned why Chinese apps are weirdly cluttered. Well, websites bring this to another level. With 1.4 billion people in China, why do some of the most widely used websites still adopt this 2000s styled design? Wouldn’t it lag up the PC? Yes, but that’s if people use PCs…
In this video, I cover the history, psychology, and culture of Chinese web design. I discuss the impact of internet speed limitation, mobile leapfrogging, language & typography, and how we as software/website designers, developers, and builders can create things that fit local users. Spoiler: clutter does not mean bad UX.
Sources (videos)
Source (articles)
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1058070/china-sina-weibo-dau/#:~:text=As%20of%20the%20first%20quarter,582%20million%20monthly%20active%20users
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/china-website-complexity/
https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2023/09/why-are-chinese-websites-stuck-in-2003/
https://econsultancy.com/why-do-chinese-websites-look-so-busy/
https://www.thoughtworks.com/en-au/insights/blog/why-do-chinese-websites-and-apps-look-so-busy
https://style.mla.org/italics-titles-not-latin-alphabet/#:~:text=No.,instead%20of%20to%20the%20right.
You’re busy, I gotchu
0:00 – So many questions
0:57 – Why is this an economic decision?
2:46 – How did mobile leapfrogging impact this?
4:15 – How does Chinese culture influence this?
5:12 – What does the science say?
5:32 – Why is clutter sometimes kinda nice?
6:14 – How does language & typography impact this?
7:19 – What can we learn?
7:40 – a message to web/software builders