Search design
Designs how a person searches and finds things inside a product: the search box, suggestions while typing, the results, the filters and what happens when nothing is found.
What problem it addresses
People searching rarely know the exact name of what they want. If the search only accepts the precise word and returns a long list with no help to narrow it, they give up.
Principles
Help people ask
Suggestions as you type and tolerance for spelling mistakes.
Results that make sense
Each result shows just enough to decide whether to open it.
Narrow without starting over
Filters by category, such as price or size, that combine and come off with one tap.
Never a dead end
If there are no results, offer another word, removing a filter or browsing.
Applications in design
Use it like this
Review what people type into your search and which searches return nothing, and design from there.
Avoid
A search box that only finds exact matches for your internal names.
Don’t fall for it
An empty screen that says “No results” and nothing else: always offer a next step.
Connections
Authors and works
- 2009
Marti Hearst
Gathered research on search interfaces, from how the query is formulated to how results are shown and refined, and how to combine search with faceted navigation.
- 2010
Peter Morville and Jeffrey Callender
Described search design patterns, such as autocomplete, faceted navigation, advanced search and structured results.
- 2012
Tony Russell-Rose and Tyler Tate
Presented search as a journey in which what you find changes what you look for, and explained how to design for different ways of searching.
Sources
Original sources
- Hearst, M. A. (2009). Search user interfaces. Cambridge University Press. View source: Hearst, M. A. (2009)
- Morville, P., & Callender, J. (2010). Search patterns: Design for discovery. O’Reilly.
Secondary sources
- Russell-Rose, T., & Tate, T. (2012). Designing the search experience: The information architecture of discovery. Morgan Kaufmann.
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