German web design is extremely cautious. The following is not a coincidence: data privacy concerns, slow innovation, and function-first design. From Germany’s aging population to strict GDPR regulations, there are many reasons why German websites look the way they do today. They look outdated, but how come they still work fine?
In this video, I analyze Germany’s web design history, culture, and the most used websites to uncover these questions: how does Germany’s aging population affect web design? How do European data privacy concerns impact design? When did the Bauhaus style take over? And does a website need to look modern… if it works?
Guest speakers
Andres: https://x.com/andreslaley
Ipek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ipek-moosheimer/
Sources (text)
https://www.statista.com/statistics/624303/average-age-of-the-population-in-germany/#:~:text=The%20median%20age%20of%20Germans,increase%20to%2047.4%20by%202100.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230557580_Culture’s_Consequences_Comparing_Values_Behaviors_Institutions_and_Organizations_Across_Nations
https://petapixel.com/2024/03/08/germany-vs-google-how-street-view-won-the-privacy-battle-in-europes-most-private-country/#:~:text=The%20practical%20concerns%20were%20immediate,achieving%20a%20key%20legal%20victory
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1127487
Sources (videos)
Websites mentioned
https://int.bahn.de/
https://www.gundelfingen-donau.de/
https://www.deutsche-bank.de/pk.html
https://www.comdirect.de/
You’re busy, I gotchu
0:00 – Many questions
0:58 – POV: buying train tickets
1:35 – An aging population
2:51 – A risk-avoidant culture
3:51 – Why so formal?
4:38 – Data privacy: GDPR
6:44 – A problem with these data laws
7:45 – Form follows function
9:08 – Design influences: Bauhaus, Swiss
9:33 – What about the younger folks?