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by Chris on 26 Aug 2008, 07:41 AM with 25 comment(s)

Live Search Design: Too many cooks?

A new blog entry on the Live Search blog from Evan Malahy, Designer, Live Search describes the “guiding principles for this latest version of Live Search” as Simple and powerful. Human. Fast.  And maybe indeed, the new look lives up to that.

However out here in the world, we don’t get to see design concepts, or PowerPoint presentations, or get to sit in on design reviews.  We only see what is presented to us.  So when new looks appear and disappear with no warning or explanation, when elements of designs long gone by still linger, and when a different set of “guiding principles” seems to be in place depending on what Windows Live page we visit, things become less simple, and certainly less powerful.

This is a sampling of the current state of Live Search pages, all taken in the space of a few minutes.  While none of these pages is offensive or poorly designed, is it a common experience?

livesearch1

 live.com home page

livesearch2

live.com search results

 livesearch3

 msn.com home page

livesearch4

maps.live.com 

livesearch5

home.live.com 

livesearch6

my.live.com

Note that there are four different “search buttons”, two different “orbs” (and four different sizes), search boxes with and without subcategories (web, image, maps, etc), and 6 different banner backgrounds.

One part of the problem is that without any insights or any visible strategy to go by, we have no idea whether these are works in progress, or whether some of these pages will soon (or ever) be redesigned, or if this is the work of one design team, or many, or any at all.  Some transparency would go a long way here.  If these are in transition, fine.  Just let us know what’s going on (and move fast to get everyone “on the same page”).

Of course a unified search experience won’t vault Live Search up in the rankings, or make searches more relevant, or may not even be necessary at all, for that matter.  In our opinion, however, it might make for a better experience, and that can’t be bad.

For a tour of elements of the new Live Search, check out http://www.newlivesearch.com/

Posted May 07 2008, 07:04 AM by Kip Kniskern
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Comments

Alber1690 wrote re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?
on 05-07-2008 9:08 AM

Very nice article. I've been waiting for someone to point out the details like these.

Khristopher wrote re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?
on 05-07-2008 10:16 AM

Actually this isn't the first time it's been pointed out.

When are they going to realize that it all just looks so bad on them. It's time to get their act together and unify everything!

Spencer wrote re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?
on 05-07-2008 2:26 PM

Sometimes I think they just don't to unify the designs.

Evan Malahy (Microsoft) wrote re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?
on 05-07-2008 10:08 PM

Kip, thanks for the feedback... I think you've hit the nail on the head with this being one of the biggest challenges for any design team within a large organization like Microsoft.  

One of the things we're hoping is that by outlining some principles and focusing people's attention on design we can raise awareness not only outside of Microsoft, but within the Live Search team itself. You can imagine how many folks there are within an organization like ours not to mention how much code--and, believe it or not, not all of them are designers!

I also think that when prominent search bloggers, like yourself,  raise this issue it helps us (designers) have more traction and power to get these inconsistencies addressed.

So, with all that, please continue keeping us honest we'll keep fighting the good fight.

Alber1690 wrote re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?
on 05-08-2008 12:53 AM

By "point out" I meant raising the issue a little more, so people like Evan have a chance to come here and take a look.

@Evan: It's nice that you guys have this open mind about keeping up with "raised issues." Keep up the good work.

calum-r- wrote re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?
on 05-08-2008 4:38 AM

FINALLY!

It's good to see a blog post on this now, seeing as though there are more inconsistencies than ever! Thank you Kip! :)

I don't understand Evan's view, or Microsoft's view for that matter, because I don't understand why they can't just have one team (or even one designer) which has the job of going through all the sites on a daily basis and making sure they are consistent!?

Or, if that costs them too much capital, I don't see why they can't send some sort of 'memo' to EVERY design team within Windows Live, MSN and Live Search to state the standards of what each UI should be like! That way whilst developing these services, the team will naturally design the service to fit the standard!

It shouldn't be about going back and redesigning certain pages to remove inconsistencies, it should be about getting it right as they develop the service and design it the first time, surely?

And, if changes to the standard UI have occurred after the service has been developed, then it should be priority to keep the UI up-to-date and not wait for the next 'feature update'!

Man, I really do hate inconsistencies! :) lol.

ajaypathak wrote re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?
on 05-08-2008 7:49 AM

this new interface of windows live search is very good and i like it very much

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