How AI product design built the foundation for a next-gen search platform
Project:
the project
Challenge:
The founders of Pika AI aimed to redefine online search through AI product design, building a next-generation search engine focused on delivering highly relevant, high-quality, and engaging information at scale. Unlike traditional search platforms, Pika AI is centered on the intelligent curation and indexing of premium content sources, leveraging advanced AI models to surface meaningful insights rather than overwhelming users with results.
To bring this vision to market, the challenge was to translate complex AI capabilities into a clear, intuitive, and commercially viable user experience, one that builds trust, accelerates discovery, and drives long-term user adoption.
Lazarev.agency was engaged to lead the design and UX strategy, ensuring the platform balanced technological sophistication with usability, performance, and scalability. The goal was to design a search experience that not only showcased the power of AI, but also supported Pika AI’s business objectives: differentiation in a crowded market, user retention, and future product expansion.
Approach:
We wanted Pika AI to feel genuinely helpful. Our focus was on using AI product design to make search simpler, faster, and more intuitive for real people. With thoughtful UX with smart AI, we created a search experience that helps users find valuable information without friction, while giving the business a strong, scalable product foundation.
The Project’s
Discovery Phase
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Revolutionizing Search
Our vision inspired us to create an inviting, warm, and familiar experience. Following this concept, Pika's search page has a clean and friendly interface, featuring search engine practices to guarantee users a recognizable and comfortable search experience.
Developing AI-powered chat system
Our dedicated focus was on the creation of an AI-powered chat system that enhances the search experience and significantly reduces search time.
To achieve this, we strategically positioned the AI widget, accentuated by vibrant colors, immediately below the search bar. This intentional placement, design accents, and interactivity ensure its prominent visibility and guide users effortlessly into initiating a chat.
Streamlining mobile experience
We have invested considerable effort in optimizing the mobile user experience, acknowledging the significant percentage of individuals who rely on mobile devices for their information searches.
With a strategic focus on consistency, we have thoughtfully retained the same design system, ensuring that our AI chat remains a prominent and accessible feature across all platforms.
Elevating search efficiency
As users input their search queries into Pika AI, they are presented with a dynamic SERP page that offers a rich array of content.
The page is designed, adhering to the widely recognized F-pattern, optimizing the user's visual journey. The interface is structured around a block-based design system with linear attributes, facilitating an intuitive flow of information.
Tailoring personalized results
Pika AI is committed to providing users with precisely tailored results based on their inquiries. The technology selects the most suitable widgets from a wide range and arranges them in order of relevance, ensuring the most important information comes first.
AI & ML
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FAQ
What strategies help make AI-powered products user-friendly?
User-centered design and clear interactions are key. In our Pika AI project, the team combined AI product design with intuitive UX patterns, reducing cognitive load and helping users navigate complex search results effortlessly, while still leveraging the full power of AI behind the scenes.
How can search platforms maintain user trust with AI-driven recommendations?
Transparency, consistency, and source visibility are critical. Pika AI demonstrates this by clearly showing why and where results come from, ensuring users feel confident in their findings and establishing credibility for the platform’s AI-driven recommendations.
What are effective ways to differentiate a new search product in a competitive market?
Differentiation comes from focusing on relevance, curation, and experience. Pika AI stood out by combining premium content indexing with a clean, intuitive interface, showing that thoughtful product design can turn a technically advanced product into a distinctly valuable user experience.
How can product design support scalability in AI-driven platforms?
Building flexible UX patterns and modular design systems enables growth. In the Pika AI case, the interface and architecture were designed to accommodate more features, data sources, and monetization strategies without compromising usability or performance, ensuring long-term product adaptability.
How can AI enhance discovery and engagement for digital platforms?
AI can identify connections, trends, and insights that users might miss. Pika AI leveraged AI models to surface relevant, engaging content efficiently, creating a search experience that encourages exploration while maintaining clarity, relevance, and fast access to valuable information.
What lessons can companies learn from AI product design in search engines?
Advanced technology alone isn’t enough; it must serve real user needs. Pika AI shows how AI product design can translate complex algorithms into intuitive experiences, helping products gain adoption, build trust, and deliver tangible business value in a competitive digital landscape.
How can AI improve the relevance of search results for users?
AI can analyze patterns, context, and content quality to deliver results that matter most to users. In the Pika AI case, advanced AI models were applied to curate and index premium sources, ensuring the search engine surfaces high-value, engaging information rather than overwhelming users with irrelevant links.
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