Media & Theory

Translating Japanese design — composition, color, restraint — into Web UI/UX.

Notes from a Japanese studio, translating aesthetic principles into mechanisms you can build.

2026-10-07

A Curve Is Time, Not Shape: What Terimukuri Teaches Web Animation

We tend to think of a curve as roundness. The defining curve of traditional Japanese design is something else: a dip, then a rise — a shape that turns out to be a movement in time.

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Media & Theory
2026-10-01
Same Mountain, Opposite Mood: Hokusai's Case for Designing Emotional Weight
Two paintings of the same mountain, built on the same skeleton — yet one feels calm and the other feels like it's about to fall apart. Here's what Hokusai changed, and how it translates into a hero section.
Media & Theory
2026-09-24
The Great Wave Is a Wireframe: Hokusai's Grid for Guiding the Eye
Two centuries before 'above the fold' had a name, Hokusai had already worked out exactly where your eye should land — and in what order.

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Translating Japanese design — composition, color, restraint — into Web UI/UX.

A Curve Is Time, Not Shape: What Terimukuri Teaches Web Animation

Same Mountain, Opposite Mood: Hokusai's Case for Designing Emotional Weight

The Great Wave Is a Wireframe: Hokusai's Grid for Guiding the Eye