I have just spent the last week in Tokyo, working on some web design projects. My goal was to understand the key drivers in site design in this country. I left home wondering how a country with such a tradition of simple, clean design (From Zen Gardens to Muji) could create web sites that were so cluttered.
Im not ready to write a book on the subject, but it seems that the complexities are often driven by a desire for information – both on the web page itself and in the choices so often presented in search. Where large, international corporates simply translate western sites into Japanese they fail every-time. My own business runs two versions of our site, the corporate .com and a pure Japanese design – it’s no surprise that the Japanese design site has a much, much higher hit rate.
I love Tokyo, it’s a great city and my colleagues here never fail to impress me. The picture was 10 minutes of fun with and iPhone and Powerpoint. It is the view from the 30th floor of the Cerulean Tower Hotel. Who knows where Tokyo stops – if indeed it ever does.
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