Air quality: designing environmental health information for accuracy and action

I redesigned Google's air quality experience for Search from a single, potentially misleading data point to a comprehensive map-based interface showing multiple monitoring stations' readings. The project evolved to address challenges of data source quality, global standards inconsistency, accessibility concerns, and integration with wildfire information through iterative design improvements, including a compact AQ card for wildfire alerts and a new smoke layer visualization.

ROLE

UX Lead
Responsible for strategizing and designing the map-based air quality experience, addressing technical and visual design challenges, creating solutions for accessibility, integrating with wildfire contexts, and co-authoring guidelines for air quality information presentation across Google products.

IMPACT

The redesigned air quality experience significantly increased user engagement with critical environmental health information, showing improved query volume and retention while establishing a foundation for air quality information that expanded to other Google products including Maps, Assistant, Nest, and Pixel.

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