Abstract
In the context of post-usability cultures, where users increasingly seek emotional resonance over mere functionality, this study explores the potential of kawaii as a communicative grammar in interface icon design. Adopting a three-phase methodology— (1) UI audit of 31 mobile applications, (2) metaphor extraction across 101 apps to identify dominant icon types, and (3) an evaluation experiment involving 21 participants rating 12 heart-shaped icon stimuli—this research investigates how subtle visual modifications along three design axes (stroke thickness, curvature and fullness, spatial balance) influence users’ kawaii perception. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) revealed that moderately thick, rounded, and slightly imbalanced forms tend to elicit higher cuteness ratings. Qualitative comments further illuminated users’ affective reasoning, highlighting an implicit grammar that governs emotional impressions. By articulating kawaii as an interface grammar, this study contributes a design-oriented framework to enhance affective interaction and cultural readability in post-functional user interface.
Keywords
Affective engineering; Emotional design; Kawaii interface; Icon affect perception
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.948
Citation
Wu, H., Tanio, M.,and Yang, W.(2025) Kawaii as interface grammar: reframing emotional design in post-usability cultures, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.948
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 5 - Design Thinking
Kawaii as interface grammar: reframing emotional design in post-usability cultures
In the context of post-usability cultures, where users increasingly seek emotional resonance over mere functionality, this study explores the potential of kawaii as a communicative grammar in interface icon design. Adopting a three-phase methodology— (1) UI audit of 31 mobile applications, (2) metaphor extraction across 101 apps to identify dominant icon types, and (3) an evaluation experiment involving 21 participants rating 12 heart-shaped icon stimuli—this research investigates how subtle visual modifications along three design axes (stroke thickness, curvature and fullness, spatial balance) influence users’ kawaii perception. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) revealed that moderately thick, rounded, and slightly imbalanced forms tend to elicit higher cuteness ratings. Qualitative comments further illuminated users’ affective reasoning, highlighting an implicit grammar that governs emotional impressions. By articulating kawaii as an interface grammar, this study contributes a design-oriented framework to enhance affective interaction and cultural readability in post-functional user interface.