Allow me to introduce you to a common yet unique Japanese tradition.
Little Schoolboy-kun comes home, slides open the door, slips his shoes off, steps up from the doorway area (called a Genkan), and shouts, “Ta-dae-ma! I’m Home!” To which Mother from inside the house replies, “Oh-kae-ri! Welcome Back!”.
Like most other countries in the world, Japanese people announce when they arrive home after work or school. But in Japan where formalities and traditions are still widely appreciated, this simple everyday ritual takes on a more depthful tone. To take ones shoes off before entering a Japanese home is not only considered respectful but is also a necessity of hygiene. A proper Japanese home is simple, well organized, and above all else… clean. A Japanese home is not merely a clean and efficient dwelling space for the occupants, but is also a sanctuary to the guests. This is how a website should be; highly functional, efficient and clean, simple, easy to navigate, and intriguing to a user.
So please, take your shoes off, leave behind the grime and dirt of the day and enjoy three of my favorite web design and Japanese interior design analogies.
First: The art of hidden organization, sliding panels, hidden drawers
Japanese interior design makes spectacular use of sliding doors and panels. This effect makes it easy to hide storage compartments and maintain a clean uncluttered area to entertain guests. Drawers and cupboards tend to blend into the home instead of standing out with fanciful knobs and handles as they do in western cultures. So while the organizational and functional aspects of the home are there, they are not flaunted or emphasized in anyway.
So what do we have to learn from this ‘hidden’ organization that we can apply to our website designs?
Keep menu and tab options simple. 4-6 options tops. If you have more tabs than that then the site starts to look cluttered not full. Plus a good thing to keep in mind is that a box that is small, but holds a lot of things always looks fuller then a box that is big, and holds the same amount of things.
Don’t emphasize the menu and navigation tools excessively. Emphasize them enough that people can find them with a quick glance at the page, but not so much that the user is aware they are there as soon as they come to your site. You see, users know the menu will be there, it is a fact we take for granted.
Use scroll over drawers and ‘panels’ to open up more options for a user when they do choose to examine the menu. Scroll over drawers can also help your user find what they need in a smaller amount of clicks, which makes everyone happy. Helping your user find what they want quickly is like not forcing them dig through the blankets in the closet to get to the box of photographs tucked in the corner. They will thank you for stacking the photographs near the front of the closet.
Lastly, make sure your menu and navigational tool design blend in well with the rest of the elements on your website. Make sure those tools are consistent across all the pages of your website. This means they are in the same format and location, everywhere you go on the site. Second: The art of using texture, tatami and natural tones
In a Japanese home you will rarely come across random bursts of color, and if you do, it will be natural greens and blues that are pulled from the garden or view outside the window. What you will see though is a sophisticated attention to textures and materials.
No Japanese home is complete without a signature tatami floored room. Tatami are tightly woven grass boards that are used commonly for bedrooms in Japan. This is because Tatami are softer then hard wood floors, and have breathability that eliminates condensation from ones body heat growing between you and the floor during the night. But for this discussion, that is not so important. What is important is the beautiful texture quality that tatami brings to a room. One cannot help but run their hand over the smooth weave of the mats and marvel at the craftsmanship that went into creating them. Tatami are unexplainably simple yet well crafted.
So what do we learn from the texture of tatami and the Japanese use of natural colors?
Keep your color palette simple. Use mostly neutral colors like tans, browns, black, and white. Then add maybe one or two different hues depending on the purpose of your website. A great free website for choosing a good color palette is paletton.com. A home is a sanctuary from the outside world, so natural colors like blue and green work well to create a serene atmosphere. But your website might have a different purpose which calls for a more vivacious or intriguing color. Again, with whatever color scheme you choose still try to limit it to one or two main hues and then neutral tones.
Add texture. Use textured backgrounds, 3-D buttons, bevels when people click on things, etc. Texture will add interest, sophistication, and professionalism to your site. Of course, please don’t get crazy and over do this. No one wants to be hunting through a rain forest of textures to find what they need on your site. The best textures are ones that you don’t even notice unless you are looking. They are patterns that are soft on the eye and act as an effective backdrop to your content.
Third: The art of Simplicity, small yet roomy, minimalist design at its best.
Because Japan has a high population they have started building and living in small spaces. Yet these smaller spaces can still be livable, uncluttered, and highly functional. Everything has a place, and a purpose. There is no over-frilly sitting room, just one living room that is combined or near to the kitchen and used for homework, dinner, entertaining guests, and anything else you need. It is one of the most effective uses of space I have ever seen.
Have you ever heard the phrase,”Keep it simple, stupid!”? The acronym for it is K.I.S.S. It is a reminder to stay simple. If you have a website that has lots of menus and spaces for content, but no content to fill them, then your website looks empty. It is the equivalent of buying a huge mansion and living there alone. You only end up using a few of the rooms and the rest is fluff. Empty, sad, depressing fluff. Don’t do this to your content. It will be sad, not to mention your website will lose some credibility.
What do we learn?
If you have limited content create a website that is in proportion. Choose a small enough space that your content fills it properly. Have simplified menus, use less pages, and Keep it Simple…and Smart!
In summary, Japanese interior design has a lot to teach us about effective website design. Through simplicity, texture, and accessible yet natural organization a website can jump from mediocracy to an enjoyable adventure and break from the world. If your users feel like they could take their shoes off and make themselves at home while browsing through your website, you’ve probably done a good job. These Japanese design principles will help you get there.
To read more on this subject please see my other article: Come Zen with Me!: Applying the Japanese Aesthetic in Web Design.
