Google Year in Search 2022 exhibit inside the world's first Google Store

Google Year in Search

New York

I led the user experience of a voice-activated exhibit inside the world's first Google Store to create a user flow that integrated the content of Year in Search into a personalized, adaptable user experience.

Role

Lead Designer

Client

Google

Agency

Deeplocal

Shipped

Jan 2022

Google came to Deeplocal to bring Year in Search to life inside their flagship store in a way that had never been done in retail before. Year in Search is Google's annual look at the moments, people, and events that defined how the world searched, and the brief called for an experience that could make that feel personal and immediate.

The installation lived inside the Imagination Space, a 17-foot-tall circular glass structure with interactive screens at the heart of the Google Store. Retail constraints shaped every decision: noise levels, hardware limitations, and the reality that any guest walking by needed to understand the experience in seconds without instruction.

The final product cleared every one of those bars. The ambient visuals and sound coming from the space served as their own invitation, drawing guests in before a single word was read.

Once inside, a camera sensed the guest's presence and the experience began. A guest spoke a month aloud and the space responded with a deep-dive video on that month's defining moments. After each video, the experience surfaced the next choice. If no selection was made, it moved forward on its own, keeping the experience alive until the guest stepped out.

Final designs

Inside the Google Store with the Imagination Space at its heart — a 17-foot-tall circular glass structure with curved interactive screens visible through the glass, surrounded by Google retail displays of phones, accessories, and a Pixel demo area
The Imagination Space at the center of the Google Store
Year in Search exhibit in its ambient state inside the Google Store — the 17-foot circular glass structure lit from within with hanging fiber-optic strands, framing a curved video wall that reads “Year in Search 2021 — Step inside and experience the trends that defined the year” over a collage of moments; a large white Google G is set into the floor at the entrance, with two illuminated activation pillars flanking the doorway
Ambient state — a guest can step up to activate the experience
Close-up of the curved video-wall inside the Imagination Space — three tall vertical screens in the ambient state, the center reading “Year in Search 2021 — Step inside and experience the trends that defined the year” with collage tiles of the year's defining moments arranged around it; flanking white perforated columns with halo lighting frame the scene, and the hanging fiber strands of the dome canopy run overhead
Ambient state — close-up of the curved video wall
A guest stands on the white Google G floor mark inside the Imagination Space, facing the curved video wall — the three vertical screens have transitioned to a chartreuse-yellow background with the letters M, A, Y in tall pale-blue type, with the guest's body framed against the central A
A guest selects “May” as their month
Deep-dive video playing on the curved video wall — the left and right screens show full-bleed close-ups of crispy lechon-style fried food, while the center screen reads “United States · October 2021 — This October, filipino bakery near me was a breakout search in the U.S.”; a guest in a tan corduroy cap watches from the right edge of frame
A deep-dive video plays on the chosen month
The same guest now stands centered on the Google G floor mark, watching the curved video wall from inside the Imagination Space — the left and right screens show a continuing deep-dive moment of someone pouring sauce over a tray of Filipino street food, while the activation columns flanking the screens glow warm and the fiber strands of the dome canopy fall around the scene
Watching the deep-dive from inside the space
Two guests stand on the Google G floor mark inside the Imagination Space watching another deep-dive moment — the left screen reads “Worldwide · October 2021 — maquillaje para dia de muertos (makeup for Day of the Dead in Spanish) searches increased +5,000% this worldwide” in red and gray type, while the center and right screens show full-bleed photography of a Día de los Muertos celebration with a sugar-skull-painted face and marigolds; the activation columns flanking the wall glow magenta to match the moment
Lighting in the space shifts with each deep-dive
Another deep-dive on the curved video wall — the left and right screens show a full-bleed portrait of an older woman in a teal cardigan and embroidered floral blouse, fist raised triumphantly under a tree-lined sky, while the center screen reads “Worldwide · September 2021 — Worldwide, search interest for personas influyentes more than doubled in September compared to August.”
A worldwide moment — “personas influyentes”
Tight-cropped view of the curved video wall mid deep-dive — the three vertical screens together spell out S-E-P in oversized white type on a chartreuse-yellow background, the month title card that opens each deep-dive segment
Each deep-dive opens with a full-wall month title
Close-up of the wooden disc placard atop one of the activation pedestals at the entrance to the Imagination Space — it reads “Year in Search 2021 — Scan the QR code to browse the interactive experience and see more of the search data and trends that defined the year,” with a QR code and the URL yearinsearch.google/explore beneath; behind it the curved video wall sits in its ambient state with collage tiles around the Year in Search 2021 invitation, and the Google G floor mark is visible at right
Pedestal placard inviting guests to continue the experience online