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 fo...
Man, NGL i greatly prefer the minimal aesthetics of the apps that i use right now. the chinese apps do not look all that different to the banking apps i have to use here and i fucking loathe them, can never get used to them and it just looks ugly.
Over the past several years Alipay and Wechat pay have gone from nowhere to everywhere in Hong Kong, and though I’ve gotten used to them for payments, my West-trained brain just kind of blanks out all of the other stuff in them as visual noise. But when I do open up one of those sub-apps out of idle curiousity, there’s nothing but benefits in there. It was a full year before I tapped on the icon called ‘bill payment’ and found I can use Alipay to pay for literally all my bills - utilities, services, everything except the Western parts of my life like Netflix and Xbox Game Pass. And it’s not like the banking systems’ autopay services where you give up control and let the (London-owned) bank and service decide whether you pay or not - if a subscription service decides you have to sit on hold for an hour to cancel your subscription manually through a phone call, you can just stiff them instead: the app will side with you, and the subscription is de facto cancelled unless they want to explain in small claims court why they have such a user-unfriendly unsubscribe procedure.
Anyway that’s a long-winded way of saying that despite the wild bazaar vibe you get from those apps, they’re also extremely regulated in the public interest. The Government lets Alipay and Wechat make a fortune just by running those platforms on the understanding that if they step even a little out of line and leverage that privilege against the public, they’re done. And that includes transaction fees.
Meanwhile Paypal is streamlined spotlessly but they take a fat chunk in transaction fees compared to the *checks notes* zero transaction fees that I’ve paid on Alipay. No transaction fees ever.
I am mixed, it depends on what I am trying to do and also if I paid anything for an app.
“Free” apps in the west are just a marketing case-study and trying to funnel me into as many additional purchases as it possibly can. Chinese is maybe an overwhemling amount of information, but often at least more relevant. It also tends to make a lot more sense for somebody who is engaging with mobile devices primarily, rather than as an extension of a home ecosystem (which the video does touch on a bit).
It also makes perfect sense to have a “one size fits all” app approach in an environment that doesn’t need to parcel your attention out over a bunch of different companies.
“Premium” apps that I already bought into, I admit I often prefer the minimalistic style of design more. That could also just be me, I prefer that in the way I decorate and organise most things I do, digitally and in real life.
Man, NGL i greatly prefer the minimal aesthetics of the apps that i use right now. the chinese apps do not look all that different to the banking apps i have to use here and i fucking loathe them, can never get used to them and it just looks ugly.
Yeah but the banking app is cluttered with myriad ways to fleece you rather than things that would be of use to you.
👆👆 This
Over the past several years Alipay and Wechat pay have gone from nowhere to everywhere in Hong Kong, and though I’ve gotten used to them for payments, my West-trained brain just kind of blanks out all of the other stuff in them as visual noise. But when I do open up one of those sub-apps out of idle curiousity, there’s nothing but benefits in there. It was a full year before I tapped on the icon called ‘bill payment’ and found I can use Alipay to pay for literally all my bills - utilities, services, everything except the Western parts of my life like Netflix and Xbox Game Pass. And it’s not like the banking systems’ autopay services where you give up control and let the (London-owned) bank and service decide whether you pay or not - if a subscription service decides you have to sit on hold for an hour to cancel your subscription manually through a phone call, you can just stiff them instead: the app will side with you, and the subscription is de facto cancelled unless they want to explain in small claims court why they have such a user-unfriendly unsubscribe procedure.
Anyway that’s a long-winded way of saying that despite the wild bazaar vibe you get from those apps, they’re also extremely regulated in the public interest. The Government lets Alipay and Wechat make a fortune just by running those platforms on the understanding that if they step even a little out of line and leverage that privilege against the public, they’re done. And that includes transaction fees.
Meanwhile Paypal is streamlined spotlessly but they take a fat chunk in transaction fees compared to the *checks notes* zero transaction fees that I’ve paid on Alipay. No transaction fees ever.
This was really insightful, I liked the concrete examples, thank you!
I am mixed, it depends on what I am trying to do and also if I paid anything for an app.
“Free” apps in the west are just a marketing case-study and trying to funnel me into as many additional purchases as it possibly can. Chinese is maybe an overwhemling amount of information, but often at least more relevant. It also tends to make a lot more sense for somebody who is engaging with mobile devices primarily, rather than as an extension of a home ecosystem (which the video does touch on a bit).
It also makes perfect sense to have a “one size fits all” app approach in an environment that doesn’t need to parcel your attention out over a bunch of different companies.
“Premium” apps that I already bought into, I admit I often prefer the minimalistic style of design more. That could also just be me, I prefer that in the way I decorate and organise most things I do, digitally and in real life.