Helping Users Find Their Own Way: Creating Modern Search Experiences

Helping Users Find Their Own Way: Creating Modern Search Experiences
Dan Newman Director of Product Design, NPR @creativenewman Allison Shelley/NPR

@creativenewman #Confab2020

@creativenewman #Confab2020 From the archives: Talk of the Nation July
16, 1999 Allison Shelley/NPR

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Think about the last time you  searched for
something online...

@creativenewman #Confab2020 The specifics may change,  but core user needs
are  remarkably consistent.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 “Search lets users control their own destiny and
assert independence from websites' attempt to direct how they use the web. Search is also users' escape hatch when they are stuck in navigation.”   -Jakob Nielsen, May 2001 bit.ly/nngsearch Nielsen Norman Group

@creativenewman #Confab2020 • Search helps when you have too much
information to browse • Search helps fragmented sites • Search is a learning tool • Search should be there because  users expect it to be there • Search can tame dynamism

@creativenewman #Confab2020 “As the choice of first resort for many
users and tasks, search is a defining element of the user experience… Unfortunately, it’s also the source of endless frustration. Search is the worst usability problem on the Web.”

@creativenewman #Confab2020 PART ONE: Eight Considerations for  Modern Search Experiences

@creativenewman #Confab2020 1 Modern search attempts to  provide answers, not
choices.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 GOOGLE NEWS YOUTUBE KNOWLEDGE GRAPH

@creativenewman #Confab2020 2 Modern search is  implicit in the experience.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 3 Modern search is  contextually-aware.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 4 Modern search handles  divergent use cases.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 5 Modern search is built on  high-quality metadata.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 (…metadata that is  meaningful to your users.)

@creativenewman #Confab2020 “A Taxonomist, a Software Engineer, and a UX
Researcher Walk  Into a Bar: Bridging AI and User Experience Methods at Etsy“ Gio Kincade, Jenny Benevento, & Jill Fruchter, IA Summit 2017 bit.ly/etsyias17

@creativenewman #Confab2020 6 Modern search helps  guides users to success.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 (“What can I ask?”)

@creativenewman #Confab2020 7 Modern search adapts  to all form factors.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 “Think with Google: In-App Search“ bit.ly/google-in-app • Make
heavier use of auto- complete / type-ahead • Minimize complicated filtering, faceting, and sorting controls • Carefully evaluate the presented metadata

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Andres Urena/Unsplash

@creativenewman #Confab2020 8 Modern search usually  requires human curation.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Modern search… … is implicit in the experience. … attempts to provide answers, not choices. … is contextually-aware. … handles divergent  use cases. … helps guide users  to success. … is built on high-  quality metadata. … adapts to all  form factors. … usually requires  human curation.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Modern search requires you to actually care about
your users.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 PART TWO: Building a Modern Search Experience at
NPR

@creativenewman #Confab2020 User expectations have changed. We need to change
with them.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 And this is just the beginning.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 How do you know  if it’s working?

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Does it pass the sniff test?

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Listen to your users.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 How’s it going now?

@creativenewman #Confab2020 PART THREE: What Comes Next?

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Machine Learning:  It’s not coming to save us
Allison Shelley/NPR

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Voice UI: Answers instead of choices Eric Lee/NPR

@creativenewman #Confab2020 No facets, no filters,  limited refinements.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 What choices do we really  need our user
to make?

@creativenewman #Confab2020 A high premium on precision,  and low tolerance
for weak results.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 AR/VR: Inputless querying Photo: NPR

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Traditional search is “user inputs text”.   Voice
search is “user says something that  turns into text (hopefully correctly)”.   AR/VR search might be “user looks at  something; we implicitly turn that action  into an intent that we turn into text”.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 IN CONCLUSION: Some Key Takeaways

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Work to understand user intent. (That probably means 
talking to your users.)

@creativenewman #Confab2020 You know your content  better than Google does.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Refine your results.  Test in context.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Search is a verb, not a noun.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Don’t forget that this still matters.

@creativenewman #Confab2020 Nina Totenberg  NPR “Founding Mother” and  Legal Affairs
Correspondent

@creativenewman #Confab2020 An article based on this talk is  available
now at bit.ly/npr-search Dan Newman Director of Product Design @creativenewman [email protected]

Helping Users Find Their Own Way: Creating Mod...

Helping Users Find Their Own Way: Creating Modern Search Experiences

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