[jchw]

Cutesy stuff is mostly just a culturally dependent thing, our appetite in the U.S. seems rather low whereas sensibilities in Japan and maybe East Asia in general are much higher. But really, in my opinion, if you're going to do something cute in a UI, the most important thing is to treat it like art rather than directly as means to accomplish some "business" end like appealing to a demographic or worse, for emotional manipulation. It's best if it's done to authentically make something pleasant and comfortable, rather than to check some weird boxes from the higher ups. Otherwise, it's going to feel immensely fake, and fire off the bullshit alarm of a large population of people.