This talk was recently presented to an audience at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) near Cambridge, England.

1. The Scent of Search
Making search more usable with information scent.
Tyler Tate
@tylertate

3. Optimal Foraging Theory
Organisms seek to maximise energy
intake for a given unit of time

10. M A N T H E
INFORMAVORE

11. 1,200 Exabytes
i n 2 0 1 0

12. “A wealth of information
creates a poverty of attention.”
– Herbert Simon

13. Information Foraging Theory
The study of how humans interact with information.

14. 11 tradeoff.png

15. 12 info scent.png

16. 13 a usability.png

17. 13 b usability.png

18. 13 c usability.png

19. 13 d usability.png

20. 13 e usability.png

21. How Do People Search?

22. Expertise
People vary be their...
Search expertise (familiarity with common design patterns)
Domain expertise (knowledge in a certain area)
find the current temperature lookup a protein sequence
Amateurs Experts

25. Goals
what is the current
temperature? book a holiday
Recall Exploration

26. 14 a old model.png

27. 14 b new model.png

31. Concept screen by IDEO

32. Amateur vs. Expert
Recall vs. Exploration

33. Amateur vs. Expert
Recall vs. Exploration

34. moderate
co
hi ple
m
complexity
gh x
it
y
Amateur vs. Expert
lookup a Bloomberg
genetic sequence
moderate
complexity
web search booking a flight
lo
w
co
m
Recall vs. Exploration
pl
ex
i ty

35. moderate
co
hi ple
m
complexity
gh x
it
y
Amateur vs. Expert
lookup a Bloomberg
genetic sequence
moderate
complexity
web search booking a flight
lo
w
co
m
Recall vs. Exploration
pl
ex
i ty

41. Information Diversity
buy a book learn about italy
Uniform Diverse

48. 17 searchbox title.png

49. 1. It should look like a searchbox, feel like a
searchbox, and act like a searchbox.

50. 1. It should look like a searchbox, feel like a
searchbox, and act like a searchbox.

51. 2. Use autocomplete to boost user’s
confidence and help prevent spelling errors.
Globrix, eBay, Last.fm

52. 23 search results
title.png

53. 3. Indicate the number of results

54. 4. Use descriptive, 7-12 word titles
5. Highlight matching words
The Guardian

56. 6. When it’s likely that the first 1-3 results are
what the user is looking for, top hits provide
additional info to help users make their decision.

57. 7. Try to avoid 0-result screens

58. 36 facets title.png

59. 8. Breadcrumbs describe what the user is
looking at, how he got there, and — if a mistake
was made — how to get back.
Wireframe by Greg Nudleman

60. 9. Clickable metadata enables organic filtering
of the results

61. 9. Filter counts give users a more complete
picture of the result set

62. 9. Filter counts give users a more complete
picture of the result set

63. 10. A meaningful visualisation makes complex
information tangible

64. 10. A meaningful visualisation makes complex
information tangible
TED

65. 10. A meaningful visualisation makes complex
information tangible
Starbucks

66. 10. A meaningful visualisation makes complex
information tangible
New York Times

67. 10. A meaningful visualisation makes complex
information tangible

70. Learn More
Read Peter Morville’s book “Search Patterns”
http://searchpatterns.org/
Read my article “The Scent of Search”
http://johnnyholland.org/2010/07/05/the-scent-of-search/
Read Marti Hearst’s book “Search User Interfaces”
http://johnnyholland.org/2010/07/05/the-scent-of-search/
Check out Endeca’s design pattern library
http://patterns.endeca.com/

71. The Scent of Search
Making search more usable with information scent.
Tyler Tate
@tylertate