Eastern & Western Design: How Culture Rewires The Brain

These were the two main sources I used when researching this video (I also referenced several other studies, however):

Culture completely changes the way our brains process information. And because of that, various cultures design things very differently.

Big shout out to Marc Levinson for reading over my script and giving feedback on it! All content directed and written by John Mauriello. John Mauriello has been working professionally as an industrial designer since 2010. He is an Adjunct Professor of industrial design at California College of the Arts.

Time stamps:
0:00 Intro
1:32 Japanese Joinery
3:18 Culture Changes The Way Your Brain Processes Information
4:34 Ground News
5:49 Differences In Visual Processing Between East & West
8:25 East & West Is Only Telling A Small Part of the Story
9:11 Being Born in A Culture Is Like Wearing Pink Glasses
10:45 Why Is Western Culture & Design Like That?
17:40 Why is Eastern Culture & Design Like That?
21:25 How Geography Changes Culture & Design
22:46 How Language Changes Culture & Design
26:54 How Culture Informs Design PROCESS
31:35 Is A Singular Design Vision Really Necessary?
33:47 Copying
34:55 What Should You DO?

[Design.Theory]

NOTE: The Himba tribe was only very marginally worse at identifying blue (we're talking milliseconds). However, it is true that people who don't have a word for a specific color in their language are worse at identifying it. Whether that has to do with simple linguistics or actual perception is hard to really test. It's probably a bit of both. I just wanted to point out this discrepancy, because the video makes it seem more pronounced than it really is.

[auburntiger]

Great video, but the reason Japanese joinery came to be the way it is wasn't due to Shinto beliefs or Japanese philosophy. Early Japanese architecture from the Jomon and Yayoi period did NOT employ this method of construction, as the joinery originally came from Ancient China; more precisely, it was the Han dynasty that spread its architectural knowledge over to the Japanese archipelago through the Korean peninsula. This is why China, Korea, and Vietnam ALL have had the same joinery system, not just Japan, even though these countries did not believe in Shinto.

[Erowens]

As a joiner, i feel i should point out, wood on wood joints are typically stronger and more durable than nail or screw joints, as well as traditional wood glues (though modern PVA is stronger). Nails/screw may even lead to rotting as they damage the woods cellular structure by crushing it and leaching into it.

Intricate joinery is just as much a matter of durable design. Part of the reason wood joints have fallen out of western fashion is that furniture is now build as a semi-disposable product rather than something that'll be in your home for most of your life.

[irynaboiko]

I think what is a bit missing in the historical analysis is how minimalism and functionalism are not consistently 'western' things, but rather a popular trend right now. In different time periods this was not always true.

[LamiaDomina]

The line about tribes with no color for "blue" being unable to see it is vastly overstated by videos exactly like this one that want to invent something novel for clicks. There is an extremely small difference in ability to differentiate shades, but nobody would "struggle with" differences as major as the one they show on screen here.

[sandracarli]

The German word for butterfly 'Schmetterling' is derived from the ancient word 'Schmetten' meaning cream. People observed that some butterflies were attracted to cream and butter. That's why they are also called 'butterflies' in English. In Italian 'farfalla' is derived from the sound it makes when it flies. However, in German there are also words derived from sound as well such as 'klatschen' (clap), 'summen' (buzz) etc.

[Orkaney]

I suggest you take a closer look at traditional Western woodwork methods. As the industrial revolution started in Western countries before spreading to other parts of the world, this is where such skills were discarded or it's used diminished first. I occasionally watched my grandfather, a mere part time carpenter, using a variety of notches and grooves when joining pieces of wood. His joints of choice depended on type of wood, required angles and strengths of joints and in which directions forces went. He often used pegs instead of nails or screws, and only glued when the assembly was intended to be permanent, like a table top or a cabinet side or door.

[ehmzed]

26:12 I was taught that this theory has been debunked very easily long time ago. It's not that they have a hard time distinguishing blue from green, they simply call them the same name because to their culture it doesn't matter if it's one or the other, and their language has developed in a way that doesn't distinguish the two. While to their culture there's a need to differentiate between different shades of green so their language developed different names for each.
Just like in English you have separate words for red and pink, yet you don't have separate words for dark blue and light blue. For speakers of many languages like Italian and Russian, that sounds crazy because we have separate words for blue and light blue. But English speakers can still tell which is which, even though they group them together as just "blue".

[hoodiegal]

The thing with the bunny, cat and carrot, the categorical/functional relationship structure, is pretty interesting. I don't recall who/where I read about it but I recall hearing about a musician who used a system like that when writing lyrics - they'd make a list of things that are categorically related to a concept, and a list of things that are functionally related to it, and figure out how to proceed from there, which helped them write things that felt coherent.

[Modo]

About the hexagon optical illusion from the beginning, I come from an Arabic-speaking country yet I also use English frequently. When looking at the illusion, interestingly enough, I found myself alternating quickly between both, with both feeling very natural with no two "default". Made me notice how when reading a sentence containing both Arabic and English, my brain is able to switch between both so naturally the same way, proving that it really shapes how our brain functions.

[MatthewStidham]

It's fascinating how you didn't mention the architecture of Northern Europe, where joinery has been used for thousands of years for building homes, particularly with regards to log cabins. If you look at traditional wooden boxes from these areas, joins are common. There are large trees in Northern Europe and Northern Japan, making it relatively easy to create long straight boards which can be thick and easy to make thick joins from. If you go to the more arid areas of Southern Europe you have smaller trees in general, with a very different climate. It is a lot harder to create a long thick plank out of a palm tree or a tree which curves a lot, makin wood from taller and thicker trees naturally more expensive, so the relative cost of nails will be lower compared to the valuable thick woods which give a carpenter a lot of room to build a complex join seen in more northern climates. This is just a theory of course.

[irenechang]

Before there was a Black and Decker rice cooker, there were a number of Asian rice cookers of the same design. The complicated Zojirushi rice cooker came much later with the development of fuzzy logic. My mom’s ancient decades old Asian rice cooker is very much like the Black and Decker.

[tubz]

Native Arabic speaker here who also grew up in America. My brain did a weird thing with the beginning example where it flashed from concave to convex.

[cryorime]

Just want to say there are also complex western joints that involve no metal hardware. Drawbore mortises and tenons, breadboard ends, half-blind dovetails to name a few. I agree that Japanese wood joinery is on a whole other level, but I just felt it necessary to mention there is some counterpart in European cultures.

[lamchingho]

21:10 The hole in the building is designed to prevent wind / airflow blockage. Common for places like Hong Kong where lots of tall building are placed together.
As a local Hong Konger I dont see many buildings advertise their "fung shui" designs. Older generations take it into consideration doing interior designs, but most younger generations just don't care about it.

[petersmythe]

1. Japan did nail wood together. People of the Pacific Northwest in North America had so many nails from Japanese derelict ships that they made iron tools out of them on a regular basis.
2. Wood on wood joins do not split the wood the way nails do. In many the resulting joint is stiffer, stronger, and longer lasting, and of course consumes no metal.

[Ubi_Qui]

Appreciate the pace of your delivery. It's musical, and there are pauses within which to reflect upon what's just been said.

[rolandgdean]

1:33 This joint is called "kane tsugi". I use it to make picture frames because of its mechanical advantage over the common miter joint. The reasons behind this joint ARE a part of the philosophy BUT ALSO, Japan is an island nation with LIMITED metal resources (as you mentioned) and the metals they DID have were reserved more for tools and weapons...both often considered sacred in their culture. They were also very self-isolated and refused to even trade with other nations compounding this issue. This placed restrictions on the wood working (sashimono) trades and they had to innovate clever ways to join one thing to another. I believe that THIS was the driving force behind the complexity of Japanese wood working joinery and that the impermanence that it yields was merely "positioned" as philosophical reason rather than material. MHO

[happydemon]

I have my doubts about your examples being an Eastern-Western thing, I think it's more a difference in development.

Like the rice cookers you used as an example, both seem to be available in Japan, it's just that having more rice consumers there is enough demand for a more feature complete cooker.
It's like if you were to compare grills. American grills can get extensive with it's features, while Japanese ones tend to be way simpler.

For the joinery example... Germany and Schwarzwald.
Schwarzwald is in Germany, they speak German and are taught German history. They are part of German culture.
But Schwarzwald is famous for it's woodworking and wood architecture. This won't be because their culture values nature more than Germany, as they are also German.
It's because they have easier access to wood, and kept using it, getting better at it.

Simply put, they have more complex wood joinery, because they're better at it. It is a mark of quality that you can make joinery without screws or nails.

[A_Vendetta]

I’m a multidisciplinary designer from India, it was really hard for me to design clean minimal products or interiors, even in brand design it was really hard for me to subject to the minimalist trend throughout the years, as coming from a culture rich bg, I always felt something was missing in minimalism, intricacies and details always attracted me