I was invited to talk about UX design for search at a Enterprise Search Cambridge meetup event. My two main point were to consider search as just one of a flow of overall activities, and the importance of understanding the context of use; secondly, I wanted to stress that search developers can influence UX design because they have access to things like analytics data - quantitative information about what users are searching for

1. Search UX:
Going with the flow
Francis Rowland

2. Search UX: Going with the flow
CONTEXT & FLOW

3. Search UX: Going with the flow
Search is about finding things

4. Search UX: Going with the flow
Exploration
Often an iterative activity,
going from one information source to another
(after Marcia J Bates)

5. Search UX: Going with the flow
Navigation
Browsing through a hierarchy
Ontologies; taxonomies
Information facets
Navigating an information
architecture

6. Search UX: Going with the flow
Asking questions
Good question - what are Anna Friel’s measurements?!

7. Search UX: Going with the flow
Narrowing

8. Search UX: Going with the flow
Context
Search is a means to an end.
It fits within a wider context of activity.

9. Search UX: Going with the flow
Flow
The search activity fits into an overall flow.
The less the user’s flow is interrupted, the better their experience

10. Search UX: Going with the flow
Good user experience is smooth

11. Search UX: Going with the flow
DESIGN CHOICES
&PATTERNS

12. Search UX: Going with the flow
Types of interaction
Good, ol’ text boxes
Drawing a polygon
G
Draw a molecule Speech

13. Search UX: Going with the flow
A note on complex forms...

14. Search UX: Going with the flow
Results pages
These can be diverse, too...

15. Search UX: Going with the flow
Aesthetic usability effect
http://bit.ly/kirVfq

16. Search UX: Going with the flow
Design patterns
Libraries of design patterns and components offer resusable,
tried and tested solutions to common design problems
Pagination vs Infinite (ish)
Best guess (I’m feeling lucky)
Auto-complete
Deep links
Filtering
Instant
Facets
etc

17. Search UX: Going with the flow
Design patterns you can use
A couple of example resources...

18. Search UX: Going with the flow
MAKING AN IMPACT

19. Search UX: Going with the flow
Assessing what you’ve got
Critique Heuristics User research

20. Search UX: Going with the flow
Heuristics
8 Golden Rules of 8 Golden Rules of
Interface Design Interface Design (Redux
)
(Ben Schneiderman) (Marti Hearst)
10 Us r
a
Heuri bility Tips fo rch
stics 10 Toping Sea
t
S uppor
(Jakob Nielsen) (Tyler Tate)

21. Search UX: Going with the flow
User research
Watch someone using your
search system
Learn about their
context-of-use
Observe
Listen
Gain insights

22. Search UX: Going with the flow
The power of analytics
ve the power!
You h a

23. Search UX: Going with the flow
Go with the flow
“When a person is looking for information, they are usually engaged in some larger task, and do not
want their flow of thought to be interrupted by an intrusive design.” - Marti Hearst
Search is a big part of
lots of everyday activity
Good UX design isn’t all
about visuals and gloss
Developers can influence
UX design
Help to make a smooth
flow from activity to
activity

24. Search UX: Going with the flow
Recommended reading
Books Presentations
- Don’t Make Me Think (Steve Krug) - The Scent of Search (Tyler Tate)
http://slidesha.re/mdCk8D
- Search User Interfaces (Marti Hearst)
- The UX of Search (Stu Cruickshank)
- Search Patterns (Morville & Callander) http://slidesha.re/jUkR7A
- Forms That Work (Jarrett & Gaffney) Articles
- Search Analytics for Your Site (Lou - Search as a Flow Experience (Tyler
Rosenfeld) (out soon) Tate... again!) http://bit.ly/j9cLWA
- Universal Principles of Design (from - Is your website design CRAP? (SEO
Rockport) Andy) http://bit.ly/kWy3bT
- Emotional Design (Don Norman) - In Defense of Eye Candy (Stephen P
Anderson) http://bit.ly/kirVfq

25. Search UX: Going with the flow
Get in touch
Twitter: @francisrowland
Blog: http://ebiinterfaces.wordpress.com
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/francisrowland
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisrowland

26. Search UX: Going with the flow
Photo Credits
Isn’t Flickr great? Thanks to:
- inju (berrypicking)
- meagan (bloodhound)
- LRdeChile (Barry White)
- jeanbaptisteparis (Ben Schneiderman)
- kev/null (Jakob Nielsen)
- Rosenfeld Media (Search Analytics book cover)
- EJP Photo (Lego blocks)
- Dru! (Noieck river valley)