Live Search Design: Too many cooks?

re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?

ajaypathak — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:49:28 GMT

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

readerszone.com

re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?

CalumJR — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:38:53 GMT

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.

re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?

Alber1690 — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:53:22 GMT

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.

re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?

Evan Malahy (Microsoft) — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:08:14 GMT

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.

re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?

Spencer — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:26:20 GMT

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

re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?

Khristopher — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:16:38 GMT

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!

re: Live Search Design: Too many cooks?

Alber1690 — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:08:50 GMT

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