Chinese app design: weird, but it works. Here's why

Chinese app design looks weird. But, they work just as well as other apps and websites around the world. Why is that? I mean, it's cluttered, overwhelming for the eyes, and kinda just throws a bunch of things at you. Turns out, beneath the incredibly cluttered user interface lies undeniable psychology.

In this video, I cover why this "cluttered and weird" design is necessary, how physical space correlates with Chinese software design, why Chinese users might prefer mobile over desktop altogether, and how all of this impacts us.

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You're busy, I gotchu
0:00 - So many questions
1:34 - Why is this "weirdly cluttered" design necessary?
2:14 - Why is WeChat's design so powerful?
3:16 - Why do people prefer "super apps"?
4:12 - This is actually good UX?
4:41 - How does Chinese culture influence this?
5:07 - The "combo" experience?
6:12 - How does high-context culture influence this?
6:56 - How does physical space impact Chinese app design?
8:26 - Why mobile over desktop? (mobile leapfrogging)
9:31 - How does this impact us?

[sheltonnthaks]

I really like the Chinese map application where you can discuss the traffic jam with other people who are also in the same traffic jam😂

[lantern_andrew]

As a designer in China, I’ve found that this design isn’t actually preferred by Chinese users—it’s simply tolerated because the app is useful. The style is driven more by the demands of massive content, heavy traffic, and frequent updates. Similar to Amazon in the US, these apps are valued for their functionality but don’t necessarily reflect a cultural design preference.

[canisalpha_music]

As a Chinese, I deeply hate this over-designed UI/UX trend in China. Many of those fancy colorful widgets and buttons are actually slowing down my poor phone (not to mention the disgusting shakey ADs). More importantly, most of those functions are not part of the core app! Imagine you can complete lending services in almost any application, even in Chinese Uber! These buttons are actually like many micro clickbaits hoping to attract your precious attention. SIn this case, every app in my phone take up more than 3-4 Gb of storage even if I barely use them, and WeChat app is actually can be over 50-100 Gb in someone's phone! So I changed my phone language in to English for a purer experience and less-noisy UI.

[hahanamegobrrr]

Anerican apps are like a newly cleaned room, everything is neatly organized and things are placed where they belong. Chinese apps are like a messy university student dorm room, everything is a chaotic mess but you know exactly which pile of books the scissor is under

[ramilatakishiev]

After watching this I still don't understand how cleaner, more efficient UI would hurt those "super apps"..
Having ads under every single icon in Taobao doesn't make it more useful.
Blame me for oversimplifying this matter, but I think it's purely a question of competition. If the state didn't let monopolists flourish, Chinese customers would have way more choice in terms from those alternative apps, we would see a shift in bigger platform UIs.

Plus, I don't see how people would prefer aggressive marketing, like constant pop-ups, click bait icons etc. over those apps which respect your time and attention span.

[brangja]

All in one app? Sounds like an operating system.

[HelloMen]

Sounds like all of those super apps try to become a monopoly with its ecosystem

[gorudonu]

when apps become the OS. instead of opening 2 apps they just open 3 screens in one app

[SETPOOL]

as a Chinese, I really want to fix their UI because I get dizzzyyy, I like simplicity desings

[feelshowdy]

I think it has its pros and cons. One thing I like about a cluttered "home" interface is, the app shows you everything that is possible right out the gate. With American-style UX, you can use a program for YEARS never knowing most of its features because they are hidden away, and it's recommended to read about everything an app can do and how to find those features in the interface.

[nooooru]

it is Chinese character system that make this design even possible，let alone good or bad. imaging that page in english, total disaster.

[bobhu]

Many of the national-wide apps in China now add "elderly mode" / "lite mode", which uses very large fonts and icons hence the content becomes super concise. The intention was making the app more accessible by those elderly who are unfamiliar with smart phones and have trouble reading small texts on the screens. Some of the apps also allow the customization for users to pick the functions that they want to be placed on the home screen of the app given the limited space. As far as I know, in addition to the elderly, a certain amount of young people (including me) are are switching to this mode as well.

[WondervilleWorld]

I don't think most chinese ux design is cluttered on purpose, I think when you design an app with one function, and then add more features later on, it forces the app to become cluttered, as opposed to designing a multipurpose app from the beginining. Chinese consumers are very aware of good design, and chinese companies like DJI, Xiaomi, understand design. Their cars, user interfaces, home appliances all have good clean, minimilist design. Chinese brains are no different to Western brains, or any other human brain, they have just become accustomed to clutter. But good design defintely exists in China, from Architecture to enviornment design to Ui's. the real question is...how would YOU design a multipurpose app that doesn't look cluttered. It takes a lot of effort and brain power. it's much easier to just cram something on, then build from the ground up.

[hizisfoo]

I sense a connection between Chinese characters and cluttered UI/Street ads. Both carry lots of information in a tight space.

[megaclodsire]

5:27 Explaining Chinese UX to an American: "Imagine a hamburger kids' meal"

[Djemoltellitlikeitis]

Funny thing is that many western apps in the late 90s and early 2000s also had cluttered designs. I think at some point we accepted minimalism as being modern.

[pax]

its quite a similar situation here in Indonesia. I notice that a lot of homegrown apps somewhat lean more into a ux philosophy similar to Chinese app design, where all apps are multi-purpose, ex. gojek, tokopedia, dana; but still implement quite a western approach with ui, something more clean and somewhat minimal. I find people here tend to have the expectation that they should be able to do a lot of things with the same app, but also want it to be a more clean user interface.

[jgcardelus]

I liked the video, but I disagree with the statement that cluttered UIs mean more info. You can have a lot of info with an uncluttered design. And I think that uncluttered UI/UXs ultimately help the users find/do what they want. You can have super-apps with clean designs, here again one doesn’t mean the other. Look at Uber, they have car riding, scooters, food delivery, car rental in a pretty clean app.

[ChibiKeruchan]

it works because of their language.
logographic type of language system. they can literally skip icons if they want to.
the reason why we use icons in the west is because alphabet take soo much space to make words.
while Chinese, korean or even japanese language only take like 2 pixel for a word.

[YimingXu-rn]

It works because I have no choice, all the apps designed like this and 99% things in their apps are useless.