intuitive search
the web’s core is about search. that is why i see great potential in travel tuner, made by brilliant design student maria. it explores a new, intuitive approach to search, using traveling as an example. it allows you to navigate within different parameters (people/ crowd, city life and nature) and to add sound levels and color toning to each. from these, travel tuner submits a search query to a travel tuner group on flickr, that you would not likely have put together yourself. my own intuitive searches may not have produced the most useful results, but that is not the point.
the point is that searching is not what it used to be! there is no right answer, or right result. more often than not, we don’t really know what we are looking for. we want to see and explore the world, the physical one, as well as the virtual one that is right at the end of our fingertips. this is of course also why we have started stumbling and digging and whatnot. and progressive shops like etsy, offers various ways to shop; by color, user ratings etc. - knowing that their customers don’t really need anything… they are merely searching for things they might like, and so the searching becomes the most important “need identifier”… turning browsers into buyers.
by actively involving the user’s semi-conscious preferences and curiosity, travel tuner meets a need. the web offers something on everything you can think of. but your imagination may not be strong enough, or your needs not explicit enough, for you to take yourself to the site or search results that will meet your needs. therefore, travel tuner is not only a good idea, and carried out in a very sweet and cool manner… but i think maria’s contribution to the scene of search has the potential of being a very powerful one. i wish her great success and loads of fun and good fortune!
tags:design, search, talent, trends
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