Google smartens up Search with dynamically themed knowledge panels
When you want to learn more about a person, place, or thing, what else are you going to do but perform a quick Google search? Search is super effective at information delivery, but the desktop interface hasn’t been the prettiest to look at. Back in September at the Search On conference, Google talked about plans to make Search’s knowledge panel more contemporary, while remaining equally informative, and now we’re finally starting to see that enhanced interface arrive.
Search on desktop can sometimes feel like an afterthought compared to mobile apps, picking up fragmented visual changes from Android now and then. But these new knowledge panels are no minor tweak, and the visual redesign we get here is rather impressive. When you look up people, you’ll see a few images arranged in a grid, links to their social media accounts, bio data, and a few other links related to their profession. Actors will have an IMDB link while an athlete might have a card for their net worth. These cards theme dynamically, deriving their primary and accent colors from the first image in the grid (via9to5Google). Based on your query, the card content may vary too.
On mobile, we see these modernized panels for a majority of Search results, including places. In these cases, cards include info like the approximate distance to get to the place and important details to know about it.
Little has changed below these knowledge panels, and you’ll still see an About section on the right-hand side with a textual description, and web links to related news and media on the left. Above the panel, you will also notice themed buttons to cycle through other sections with detailed information arranged in a grid of info cards.
In our testing on desktop, the redesigned UI shows up when you look up a person or vegetable, but not necessarily every time — it works for broccoli and Gal Gadot, but not tomato (in some regions) and Duchess Meghan Markle. Moreover, places and locations don’t have new-style knowledge panels yet. Interestingly, the results for people appear to be themed blue by default, although most panels theme dynamically. There’s definitely some more pop and flare to Search results now, but we’ll reserve our judgments until this phased rollout is complete.
Examples for Knowledge Panels still sporting the default blue color
Until recently, we didn’t even see dynamic theming on Search for desktop, but the recent improvements suggest there’s a lot to look forward to in the days to come. In the future, you may see short video cards from people who’ve visited the place you’re looking up, and other important details you’ll want to know when planning a trip. We hope Google also irons out the few dynamic theming irregularities, making this a consistently great experience.
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