C+E Studio · Google · 2023
Notes by Google
A Search Labs experiment for sharing helpful perspectives — with a visual system built to make every note expressive by default.
Role
Sr. Product Designer
Scope
Interaction Design · Theming · Figma Plugin Dev
Duration
5 months
0→1
Theming system for Google Search Notes
2
Teams unblocked: UX designers + engineers via one plugin
100%
Theme export fidelity via JSON — no detail lost in handoff
Process
Overview
Notes is a Google Search Labs experiment that lets people share helpful tips and perspectives directly on Search results and web pages — customizable with visual note styles, stickers, and photos. The goal: surface the wisdom of real people alongside traditional results. My work at the Creative Content Studio was to design the theming system that made every note visually compelling by default, and to build the tooling that made theme creation, iteration, and handoff self-serve for both designers and engineers.
01 · Context
A new way to contribute to Search.
Notes gives anyone the ability to share helpful tips and perspectives directly on Google Search results and web pages — experts and everyday users alike. For the Creative Content Studio, that created a clear design challenge: every note needed to look visually compelling out of the box, before any personalisation, across a corpus that would grow fast.
- Google's research showed people want to know what others like them say about a page
- Notes sit alongside existing web content — a layer of human insight on top of results
- A “Notes” button below results in the Google app and on Discover articles opens what others have said
02 · Mission
Themes that elevate the content without overshadowing it.
CCS was tasked with creating a theme library wide enough to serve any creator's intent — from a skincare tip to a travel rec to a recipe note. The goal was visual diversity that still felt cohesive: a range of styles broad enough to feel personal, consistent enough to feel like a single product.
03 · Core Principles
Effortless creation. Genuine expression.
Two principles guided every design decision. Effortless: creating a visually engaging note should require just a few taps — no design skill needed. Expressive: themes should span a genuine range of styles and moods so that creators can find something that actually represents their content, not just a default they tolerate.
- Text, stickers and photos to build the note
- A choice of visual styles to make it feel like your own
- AI-generated images planned for the U.S. as a next step
04 · Development
A Figma plugin that made the system self-serve.
The plugin features a unified structure that lets UX designers swap and update theme elements and create new themes independently. On the engineering side, it exports every theme as JSON — preserving every design detail with zero loss in translation. What had been a back-and-forth ticket workflow became a self-serve pipeline for both teams.
05 · Launch
Live in Search Labs, built to learn.
Notes launched on November 15, 2023 as an opt-in Search Labs experiment in the Google app on Android and iOS. Like every Labs experiment, the point was to test and learn what works before bringing it to a broader Search audience — with algorithmic protections and human moderation keeping notes safe, helpful and relevant.
- English in the U.S.; Hindi and English in India
- Opt-in through Search Labs in the Google app
- Site-owner insights on notes explored as a follow-up