“Search is such a fragile interface. It’s humbling to see how the slightest changes in design, just pixel-level changes or barely perceptible changes to colours, can have such a dramatic impact on usage and revenue. At Google, we’re in a unique position to measure the impact of design on the business, and we take advantage of that opportunity to make design decisions based on evidence.”

Data-driven culture

Au, who spent eight years at Yahoo, accepts that some people might feel threatened by the data-driven culture and perceive it to be crippling, but highlights the fact that others might see it as empowering. It’s a challenge to design something that’s as beautiful as it is lightning fast.

“One of the best things about designing for the web is that you can instantly see and measure the impact of your changes,” she says. “Google understands that designing engaging, useful and usable products with complex workflows requires something more than data.

The Secrets of Google’s Design Team