"Immediate. Powered by the most basic notion, this site transforms words into something actionable." —juror Michael Potts
"A novel way to interact with Google and a potentially new way to search. Instead of lists of links, it offers everything on a cleanly designed page." —juror Keith Butters
Overview: With a diverse portfolio of products that many users never discover, this site sheds light on Google's more specialized tools (like Sketch Up and Patent Search) alongside the heavy-hitters like Maps and Gmail. What do you love? is a metasearch tool with a grid-based landing page of images and graphic text. More than anything, it's a visual invitation to users to learn something new about their favorite things and utilize and explore the interconnectedness and possibilities of Google products.
• Two agencies worked on development for six months.
• A scroll bar on the left-hand side allows for alternate scrolling action.
• The project was incorporated into Search Playground on Inside Google Search—an exploration of the methodology and process behind Google search.
Comments by Big Spaceship:
What was the most challenging aspect of the project? "It's a presentation of a large number of results from Google services and APIs all on one page, so the idea of typing in one word and receiving results instantly from an array of products was fascinating. The site has one large form field and three buttons for social media sharing as well as eighteen widgets. In this instance, a widget represents an embedded square that generates content from a particular Google product; it includes a mix of graphs, images, videos, form fields, interactive maps and 3-D models; it also includes buttons that link out to the product’s classic Google page, enabling users to scroll through results on their own time and explore specific widgets during the experience.
"Using a large number of Google services all at once also presented us with a significant challenge in that each had its own implementation. Also, not all of the services utilized had APIs proper, so we had to discover ways in which to glean results from them and to see how a search term might play across Google’s portfolio of tools in a single place. We learned a great deal about App Engine, Python MVC and Google Closure, as well as the different Google services and APIs. "Ultimately, working with a company that has the size and speed of Google was new for us and we had to move quickly and efficiently in both conception, prototyping and final launch."
