Pattern for search landing vs results

Question

We have a search screen that lets users search on two (and possibly more) elements.

They come to the screen and we say "Please enter aaa or bbb" and the two empty search boxes are at the top of the page with a search button.

It feels a bit 'blah' - message, two empty fields at the top of the screen and nothing filling the screen. Looks great with data but the 'landing' could use improvement.

Is there a standard pattern for landing vs results that would help us out?

Answer 1

You could include placeholder text for the search boxes, which is displayed as a "grey text" in the search box and is replaced when the user enters actual data to search. This way they have some information on what could be searched with that search box and the landing does not look empty or confusing.