<story><title>The Kawaiization of Product Design</title><url>https://vanschneider.com/the-kawaiization-of-product-design</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>everdrive</author><text>I’m not sure I’d call this “kawaii,” as that has a particular (and often cringey) connotation.&lt;p&gt;But, there is something deeply unappealing about this style. I’m not sure I can even describe it properly. It just reminds me of the most boring parts of my childhood: the aesthetic of dentist office waiting rooms, and middle school pamphlets aimed at teaching kids about sociology.&lt;p&gt;My past association with this sort of aesthetic is so innoffensively boring, I almost can’t even stand to look at it. And, as and adult, it no longer strikes me as just boring, but also insidious in the way that all marketing is insidious: it promises one thing, and behind the marketing is something else. A pleasant and inoffensive advertisement is in actuality just a regular old business who wants your money. There’s (usually) nothing evil the business, but of course the feeling portrayed by the marketing is a lie.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>coldtea</author><text>&amp;gt;&lt;i&gt;I’m not sure I’d call this “kawaii,” as that has a particular (and often cringey) connotation.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kawaii is great within the culture it created it (and not cringey, in fact, cringey is a cringey neologism applied to everything these days).&lt;p&gt;But this is definitely not Kawaii - doesn&amp;#x27;t have any major kawaii characteristics as known. Cute in some way != kawaii (which might mean &amp;quot;cute&amp;quot; etymologically, but refers to a specific aesthetic).&lt;p&gt;Your description &amp;quot;middle school pamphlets aimed at teaching kids about sociology&amp;quot; is spot on (at least concerning the human-like figures and color tones).</text></comment>
<story><title>The Kawaiization of Product Design</title><url>https://vanschneider.com/the-kawaiization-of-product-design</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>everdrive</author><text>I’m not sure I’d call this “kawaii,” as that has a particular (and often cringey) connotation.&lt;p&gt;But, there is something deeply unappealing about this style. I’m not sure I can even describe it properly. It just reminds me of the most boring parts of my childhood: the aesthetic of dentist office waiting rooms, and middle school pamphlets aimed at teaching kids about sociology.&lt;p&gt;My past association with this sort of aesthetic is so innoffensively boring, I almost can’t even stand to look at it. And, as and adult, it no longer strikes me as just boring, but also insidious in the way that all marketing is insidious: it promises one thing, and behind the marketing is something else. A pleasant and inoffensive advertisement is in actuality just a regular old business who wants your money. There’s (usually) nothing evil the business, but of course the feeling portrayed by the marketing is a lie.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ulrikrasmussen</author><text>Completely agree. When I see a web page with this style, I just know that I&amp;#x27;ll have to dig really deep to find any concrete information about what the tech is &lt;i&gt;actually&lt;/i&gt; about. There might be a link with the caption &amp;quot;how X works&amp;quot;, but it will almost certainly take me to a simplified list of superficial features along the lines of &amp;quot;achieves 20% more goodness&amp;quot; instead of telling me anything about how the product actually functions.</text></comment>