Issue 57: Cigarette ads in the fictional hotels
Large detailed guides on new variables in Figma; Why Japanese websites look different; 50 books covers of 2022 and so much more!
Hello, dear readers! 👋
In this issue, among other things:
Large detailed guides on new variables in Figma
Why Japanese websites look different
Why designers should work directly with HTML, CSS and JavaScript
A large selection of tools for data visualization
Library of animated emojis in the style of Microsoft Fluent Design
How a color sticker helps to preserve products
OpenAI released Code Interpeter plugin for ChatGPT
A new Blender 3.6 has been released: Updates
50 books covers of 2022
Enjoy reading!
📌 This is worth noting
Manipulation is one of the main functions of design. Especially when it comes to selling. It is difficult to imagine a more romanticized and myth-filled product than cigarettes. Cinema, poetry, music have absorbed the tobacco smoke of visual stereotypes and still have not had time to erode it.
🗞 News and articles
Why Japanese Websites Look So Different
Article by Mirijam Missbichler, in which he tried to highlight the reasons for the difference between Japanese web design from European and American.
The reasons for the identity of Japanese Web design:
A Japanese font can include more than 16,000 characters, so creating a new font requires a lot of effort and time. This significantly limits the choice of fonts for design
Due to the huge number of characters, Japanese fonts take much longer to load, so web designers often implement text through images.
In Japan, technological progress and digital illiteracy are surprisingly combined. For example, the Japanese are leaders in the use of floppy disks and fax machines, and the Minister of Cybersecurity, Yoshida Sakurada, said in 2018 that he had never used a computer
The lag in Internet usage affects web design, which looks rather archaic, in contrast to the ultra-modern Japanese graphic design
The Japanese prefer an abundance of information in descriptions, titles and cards, because it allows you to make an informed decision about buying or visiting a link. For example, YouTube video cards contain a large amount of text
The desire to make an informed decision is closely related to a more collectivistic social thinking, which leads to indecision and fear of risk
Japanese tend to perceive information more holistically, while Europeans and Americans choose a separate point of view
Modern Japanese design (from brochures to subway advertisements) has a very high density of information, so this approach is transferred to web design and users do not see this as a problem.
Figma Variables. Ultimate Guide
Przemyslaw Baraniak made a large detailed guide on new variables in Figma. In it, he talked about what variables are, and also showed how to use them to create design tokens, control points for adaptive sites, prototyping, switching between color themes, as well as to create layouts in several languages. The article also has some additional general tips on working with variables.
To continue the topic, I'd recommend Lukas Oppermann's guide on using variables in Figma to create design tokens for various scenarios.
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