Web Design in Different Countries

<div class="p-lr mb-56"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">The nuances of making websites for any place in the world</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-56"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">We have worked with clients from 27 countries. During this time, becoming all the more worldly in the process, we’ve noted some differences between websites in these countries — some obvious, but a few subtle ones as well.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">This is not thoughtful research, but rather a worldwide peek at what is different — ultimately finding that there’s more alike than not.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr">Our identity for <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/120721005/Galactic-Energy-Website" class="underline">Galactic Energy</a>, a South African company working with green energy</p></div>

<div class="p-lr mt-24 mb-32"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">What do New York, Tokyo, New Dehli, Sydney, and Dubai have in common? There’s always a McDonald’s around the corner.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-32"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">In 1986, The Economist introduced The Big Mac Index. It’s used to show the purchasing power parity between different currencies, as a Big Mac is pretty much the same everywhere. While originally published in a humorous article, since then it was recognized as a useful tool and was featured in many academical works.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">If burgers are good enough for researching global economics, we can use a somewhat similar approach. Except that in our case, they turn out to be completely different.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">We see corporate American, a bit more colorful French, bombastic Australian. And Japan being Japan.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h2-style">Web Design is not big in Japan</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mt-24 mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">Despite strong and unique visual traditions of graphic design in Japan, web designs kinda got stuck somewhere around the 00s. There are a number of reasons for this. Some of them are cultural — take a look at crowded and busy websites, and you may find some similarities to a shopping street.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">According to <a href="https://www.edelman.com/trust/2022-trust-barometer" class="underline">Edelman Trust Barometer</a>, Japan is one of the most distrustful countries in the world. Despite that the Japanese design and culture might make you think of minimalism (even the furniture can get so neat that it makes you reach zen), that’s not applicable for marketing. There are niche exceptions, such as the websites for high fashion, but generally speaking, the Japanese audience needs every single bit of information about the product. Absolutely all of it.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr"><a href="http://brutus.jp/" class="underline">brutus.jp</a></p></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">The bigger problem is technical. Any good visuals online stand strong on carefully produced typography. With how many symbols there are in Japanese (and Chinese as well), it’s much harder to play around with font pairs and such. Of course, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t well-made websites in Japan.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr"><a href="https://emiozaki.com/" class="underline">emiozaki.com</a></p></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr"><a href="https://s5-studios.com/" class="underline">s5-studios.com</a></p></div>

<div class="p-lr"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h2-style">Arabic websites</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mt-24 mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">Everything is right to left. It might not seem like a big deal, but if you’ve ever been to an eastern country, you know that initial shock. Everything is backward! This panic is even worse for designers, having to flip the familiar compositions.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr">Find ten differences</p></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">This adaptation goes beyond mindlessly flipping everything. First of all, digits and numbers are still read left to right. Secondly, there’s no reason to mirror the icons. Thirdly, as a rule of thumb, the text should be a little bigger — Arabic symbols are far more intricate (and again, there are fewer fonts to choose from).</p></div></div></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr"><a href="http://tarjama.com/" class="underline">tarjama.com</a></p></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr">Our <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/132197903/Malaa-Tech-Brand-Identity-Website" class="underline">identity for Malaa</a>, both in English and in Arabic</p></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">More than three hundred million people in the world speak Arabic, and to generalize these different cultures would be, at the very least, rude. Which we’ll now do, just a lil bit. Arabic websites are usually more restrained and conservative than their western counterparts: fewer colorful characters, and photos of people are not used as often as well.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr"><a href="https://www.careem.com/" class="underline">careem.com</a>, both in English and in Arabic</p></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr">Our <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/118582465/CMA-Brand-Identity-Web" class="underline">identity for CMA</a>, which works all over the world — we use photos of buildings for the feeling of something global and monumental</p></div>

<div class="p-lr"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h2-style">Europe vs the US</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mt-24 mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">Naturally, Americans believe they’re the best. Best at visuals, and with punchy CTAs, nothing out of place. Just the best. However, in our experience, American sites lag a year or two behind their European counterparts.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr">Our identity for <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/129539423/Vade-Brand-Identity-Website" class="underline">Vade</a></p></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr"><a href="http://wealthsimple.com/" class="underline">wealthsimple.com</a></p></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr">Our project for <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/124371219/Ledger-Branding-Web" class="underline">Ledger</a></p></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr"><a href="https://home.payground.com/" class="underline">home.payground.com</a></p></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">European design is trendy, cutting-edge — sometimes, even too much so. There’s even a technical advantage — the internet connection is better than in the US (and most of the world), so a European website can afford to have a fancy preloader, complex 3D, hi-res pictures.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr"><a href="https://www.heetch.com/fr/passager" class="underline">heetch.com</a></p></div>

<div class="mt-16 mb-104"><p class="text-gr"><a href="https://www.comparethegardeners.com/" class="underline">comparethegardeners.com</a></p></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">Europe is varied — every website should consider its local particularities. French websites might be more colorful, Scandinavian websites invoke that IKEA vibe, etc. But what even is European design? There’s Swiss style — which has been used everywhere, and has largely informed the now downwinding minimalistic trend. Bauhaus came from Germany but has influenced everything we’ve seen for nearly a century.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h2-style">Outro</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mt-24 mb-56"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">While everything isn’t the same everywhere, it’s more alike than it’s not. We’re all people. When making a website, the audience’s country of origin is hardly the most important thing.</p></div></div></div>

<div class="p-lr mb-104"><div class="g-7-15"><div class="transp-bl"></div><p class="h4-style">And of course, Apple looks the same everywhere.</p></div></div></div>

Web Design in Different Countries

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