Wang Yuening

Hello, I’m a third-year undergraduate student from Kyushu University My name is Yuening, from Dalian, China. As a representative of the Fukuoka International Students Association, I am here to publish an article about warm heart design in Japan.

Why do foreigners go shopping crazily when they come to Japan? In Japan, some warm heart designs are convenient. Maybe Japanese people do not feel that, but these detailed designs do not exist in our country, so some novel designs attract the attention of many foreigners to make them want to buy. Good appearance is only the first step to attract consumers. What is the core competitiveness of Japanese design to retain customers? Japanese things are not only good-looking and easy to use but in life, a variety of humanization designs is also very admirable. Let’s take a look at these very user-friendly products.

１．Japanese people don’t need to lick their yogurt on the lid

In China, we have a meme that drinking yogurt without licking the lid is considered to be the lifestyle of the rich. But in fact, do you know that Japanese people don’t need to lick their yogurt? Japan invented yogurt lid that does not leave a drop of yogurt.

２．Instant drip coffee bag

Recently, the popular UCC Instant drip coffee bag is a Japanese original patented packaging design. Similar to the tea bag, the coffee in the filter bag with ears only needs to be ripped along the arrow direction of the filter bag, and the ears on both sides are opened, hung on the mouth of the cup, and injected with boiled water in several times. Low filter coffee brewing meets the quality requirements of the group, simple operation, and very friendly to busy professionals.

3．Packaging designed for visually impaired patients

There is a strange arc-shaped gap in the packaging of milk in Japan. This kind of gap design is specially designed for the visually impaired, and only on the milk packaging box, other dairy products containing milk do not. Such a groove can also tell the visually impaired the correct position of the opening. In addition to the intimate design of the milk box, there will be braille on the top of the can, so that the visually impaired can distinguish which type of wine and the alcohol content.

There are many other designs like this. For example, the special package of rice balls can retain the smell of seaweed, and the sticker under the Ramen cup can be used to seal when making noodles. When you eat ramen and drink a bowl of soup, you will notice the words at the bottom of the ramen bowl, the gap on the bottom of Yakult is for better folding and recycling, and the special garbage disposal paper is in the gum can. When you buy fast food in a convenience store, the mustard tomato bag will give for you which can release both hands to extrude. Also, the bottom of the pudding cup has a small bulge, which is poured on the plate and pressed to make the pudding extrude without deformation and so on.

The intimate design of Japan makes us feel that life in Japan is so convenient. When we encounter a kind of inconvenient problem in our life, the warm heart design in Japan is improved. Behind the amazing Japanese packaging culture, what is hidden in the ingenuity of Japanese designers? They will not excessively pursue higher price products, but constantly polish the details. Designers’ almost paranoid pursuit in designing works is not only reflected in the beautiful appearance but also the user experience of people-oriented.