Google Confirms Redesigned Homepage, Starts Testing More Widely

Not that anyone hadn't noticed by now, but Google has acknowledged that it's working on redesigning its search website. In fact, Google is working on a company wide redesign, all of its products will get freshened up and it all links to the recently revealed Google+.

Over the past few weeks, the last couple of them in particular, more and more users began noticing a redesigned homepage and sometimes a black top navigational bar. Even a black YouTube player was spotted.

They were all clearly part of an upcoming Google redesign and the company has now confirmed it.

"Starting today, you might begin noticing that things look a little different across Google products. We’re working on a project to bring you a new and improved Google experience, and over the next few months, you’ll continue to see more updates to our look and feel," Chris Wiggins, Creative Director for Digital at Google, wrote.

The redesign is still in the testing stages, so you may see only parts of versions of it. For example there are versions of the homepage with a single blue search button or two redesigned "Google Search" and "I'm feeling lucky" buttons.

Some users are also seeing the new black navigational bar, or the regular white one. Most of the time, you'll get various combinations of the several versions of the redesigned elements in testing in the wild.

One of the most noticeable changes, perhaps one of the most controversial as well, is the black nav bar. While it seemed like a limited test at first, it's now becoming apparent that it's here to stay and is linked directly to the Google+ project.

All of the promotional material we've seen so far for the social project features the black bar and a black YouTube player as well. This may only be for those using Google+, but it is more likely a permanent, Google-wide change.

Google will continue to update the design and other products will get a refresh as well, to create a cohesive look. The new search results page for example, which features gray links in the sidebar and red links for the currently selected section, is identical to the Google+ homepage which has the same color scheme and layout, including the slightly darker header.