A New Look for Google’s Homepage

June 29, 2011 at 10:50 am

Over the last few days, Google have been rolling out a sleek new look for their homepage that can also be seen on a number of other Google products and services. The changes to their (already minimalistic) style have helped to bring the page up to date, after remaining reasonably static over recently.

The redesign – which makes use of new technologies such as HTML5 and WebGL – boasts a black top bar and a slightly smaller Google Doodle. The main search box and buttons have been redesigned, leaving them looking much more ‘new-web’, with some nice subtle roll-over effects. Links that were previously below the search bar are now anchored to the bottom of the page for what Chris Wiggins, Google’s digital creative director, calls a “cleaner” look.

Google's new look homepage

The redesign has spread to the results page: results are a little more spaced out, the top bar is more segmented from the main content, and the left-hand options column is laid out much better (not to mention the touch of a suave deep red).

Google also gave their results page a new look

The redesign will slowly reach the wide range of other Google services, in their continued efforts to make everything easier and more efficient to use. Changes such as “using bolder colors for actionable buttons or hiding navigation buttons until they’re actually needed” will be implemented to make sure users only need to worry about “what you need at the moment,” said Wiggins.

There is no doubt that the new design is the result of extremely careful planning and research*, but is the new design worth the fuss, or are Google fixing something that was never broken?

* It’s a story for another article, but you’d be surprised how much research Google carry out by making slight tweaks to aesthetics, making them available for a small, random sample and then monitoring changes in user behaviour patterns. If you ever notice that the text box is a little longer, or the buttons are a little bigger, you’re probably playing a momentary role in their research!