13/04/2026
🍱🍱🍱 BENTO DESIGN 🍱🍱🍱
Occasionally, I get asked what the bento layout is and why it’s called that. It’s not just a catchy, random term; there’s a solid reason behind the name.
By definition, Bento design (or “bento layout”) is a visual design style that organizes content into concise, clearly separated “blocks” or “cards,” much like the compartments in a traditional Japanese bento lunch box—similar to the one in this 📸 photo I took in Japan 🇯🇵.
In short, you can see everything at a glance. It’s a nice layout that lets you showcase information in a summary format, but in a visually appealing way. The user who will consume this will find it easy to digest.
Over the past few years, the bento layout has undeniably become a favorite among designers—and one of the most commonly used—especially since major tech companies popularized it in their product showcases across web and print.
So the next time someone asks you what bento design is, just show them a 🍱 Japanese bento box.
And if you’re not aware, we also like to coin a particular term for food-related things, and most of them are self-explanatory because somehow they mimic the behavior and appearance, such as:
📌 Hamburger/Burger as the menu
📌 Spaghetti code as a tangled, complex, unmaintainable structure
📌 Breadcrumbs as a trail of links showing the user’s path
📌 Toast notification as a small, non-modal pop-up that briefly appears on screen
📌 Chips as a compact UI element
📌 Snackbar is a small bar that appears at the bottom of the screen
📌 Cookies are small data stored in the browser.. and many more.
