Google’s design philosophy is to combine power with simplicity

User feedback is very important to us. We get feedback directly from the users and Google’s dedicated user experience team puts the proposed changes through a rigorous process of testing with real life users. Here are some specific ways we carry out user experience research such as ethnographic/field studies where researchers and engineers observe people using our products in the real world, sitting side by side; or diary studies where users submit regular updates and feedback while using a product in real life; observational studies where it takes place in the labs and involve cameras, recording and eye tracking equipment, where users are given a scenario to play out while our experts watch to see how they’re reacting through a one-way mirror; and by live experiments and we turn on a new feature for a small percentage of live users and track usage on the back-end.

An example of where we implemented observed user behaviour into a product feature was Google Instant. This is the feature where we show you results instantly as you type. Our key insight from user experiments is that people type slowly, but read quickly. This means that you can scan a results page while you type. So we decided to integrate this insight into a feature in search.

What are the challenges you perceived at every level of change and the nature of experiences you gained through these challenges?

Let me explain one of our recent challenges. Many people today rely on multiple devices —laptops,

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