Google today announced a subtle but welcome update to its mobile search experience. This is all about providing more readable search results and a more modern look and feel with a simpler edge-to-edge design.
From what we’ve seen so far, this isn’t a radically different look, but the rounded and slightly shaded boxes around individual search results, for example, have been replaced with straight lines, while Google specifically added more roundness in other places. You’ll find changes to the circles around the search bar and some changes to the Google logo. “We believe it feels more approachable, friendlier and more human,” a Google spokesman told me. There are also a little more spaces in places, as well as new pops of color, which should help separate and emphasize certain parts of the page.
Credit: Google
“Rethink the visual design for something like this search is really complex, ”said Google designer Aileen Cheng in today’s announcement. “That is especially true when you consider how much Google search has evolved. We not only organize the web information, but all information in the world. We started out organizing web pages, but now there are so many differences in the types of content and information that we need to understand. “
Credit: Google
Google is also expanding its use of the Google Sans font, which you are probably already familiar with thanks to its use in Gmail and Android. “Bring consistency in when and how we use fonts search was also important, which helps people analyze information more efficiently, ”writes Aileen.
Today’s update is in many ways a continuation of the work Google has been doing with its mobile search Update in 2019. At that time, the emphasis was also on making it easier for users to scan the page by adding site icons and other new visuals to the page. The work of making the search results pages more readable is clearly never done.
However, compared to the new and old design, the changes are mostly minor. This isn’t a major redesign, but it is minor changes that the designers are certainly obsessed with but that users may not even really notice. Now, if Google had made it a lot easier to distinguish ads from the content you’re actually looking for, that would have been something.
Credit: Google