The culture of Japan is reflected in every aspect of its people’s lives. The Japanese believe in simplicity and minimalism. They are also highly meticulous and detail-oriented. Even something trivial such as web design finds a piece of this simplistic culture in it.
WordPress for Japan
Japanese WordPress has existed since the time of WordPress’ inception. Over the years, the large WordPress community in Japan has only fueled the growth of themes and designs that cater to its native audience. However, the journey has not been easy. There are four main problems web developers encounter when designing Japanese WordPress themes.
- Language – This is perhaps the biggest hurdle the WordPress community faces when designing themes. WordPress is primarily an English-language platform with documentation available in the same language. Many Japanese web designers do not understand the language, let alone speak it. Abbreviations, in-jokes, slang, and certain expressions are difficult to translate, making design quite a tedious process.
- Emphasis – Japanese is a logographic language that conveys much more in a few characters than in long sentences. However, when it comes to emphasizing words or adding tonality, it becomes difficult because the language does not have capitalization or italics. Bold is the only way to go.
- Web fonts – The logography of the Japanese language makes designing fonts an expensive and time-consuming process. Even downloading them takes a longer than average time.
- Platform support – Although, support for Windows XP and IE6 has almost ceased, many Japanese users and corporations still use them for their daily transactions. Therefore, designing themes that will adhere to dated standards and platforms is a challenge.
These issues are difficult but not impossible to overcome. Thanks to the populous and thriving WordPress community, there is an increasing interest and talent in designing themes for Japanese consumers.
Characteristics of Japanese WordPress
Japanese WordPress theme designs have quite a few unique characteristics. This is reflective of the landscape, consumer behavior, passivity, and rules of the native culture. Japanese websites are usually chaotic with a plethora of information and brightly colored elements influenced by the need to grab attention and reassure customers. Many companies stick to this chaotic theme for a simple reason – it works.
Although there are popular websites such as Goo, Rakuten, and even Yahoo whose websites are packed with information, there are companies such as Toyota, CookPad, and Uniqlo who choose to go the other way – with minimal information.
Target audiences of Japanese WordPress Design
When designing Japanese WordPress themes, it is important to understand who the target audiences are. Emphasize on the need to get the message across with a clean and open design. Conformity may be the norm, but creativity is the key.
