Rhiannon Bell: Designing the future of search at Google

Design Better

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We all rely on search—sometimes dozens of times a day—to make sense of the world around us. But behind that simple white box is a vast, dynamic system that has to understand not just language, but intent, context, and trust.

In this episode, we talk with Rhiannon Bell, VP of User Experience for Google Search, about how they navigate the complexity of designing one of the most widely used products on the planet.

Rhi shares how their background in writing and storytelling shapes their approach to UX, why designing for information-seeking behavior is fundamentally different from transactional design, and how teams at Google are rethinking trust, transparency, and delight in an age of generative AI. We also dig into what it means to lead with curiosity, and how bringing a sense of play into product development can open up entirely new possibilities.

Bio

As the VP of UX for Google Search, Rhiannon Bell leads a team of talented Designers, Researchers and Content Strategists who are responsible for all of Google Search experiences. They have over 20 years experience in product development, working with diverse and global products such as NerdWallet, BBC, and Zynga.
Rhiannon's mission is to build responsibly toward an AI-powered future, using user research, creative direction, and user-centric product development. They are passionate about pushing the boundaries of technology to solve user pain points, raising the quality bar on execution, and driving home the consumer-centric view within any product organization. They are also an active investor and advisor in the design and AI space, supporting visionaries who are shaping our world.

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