Mountain View, California — After globalizing its Google+ social network, search engine behemoth Google took the wraps off a new homepage design today, with the intent to implement a uniform interface and improve usability across many of its apps and devices.
Google is getting ready for the big bonanza. During the next few months, the search titan will modernize the appearance of its properties, beginning with the iconic homepage. The new design is cleaner than the previous version, with a smaller logo and a black navigation bar at the top of the page.
“Starting today, you might begin noticing that things look a bit different across Google products. We are working on a project to bring you a new and improved Google experience, and over the next few months, you will continue to see more updates to our look and feel. Even our classic homepage is getting a bit of a makeover,” says Google in a blog post.
Detailing some of the changes, Google creative director for digital Chris Wiggins said in a blog post the new design direction will emphasize on three key principles: “focus, elasticity and effortlessness.”
Google emphasize it is aspiring to create a more seamless, connected experience throughout its many pages and products. Its a motto the company has been shouting for some time, and we suspect also now key to how the company probably rates websites around the web within its search engine as it strives to simplify the web.
- Focus: Google’s pages will get small and large tweaks to bring forward the things that matter most when you need them.
- Elasticity: Web pages and apps across a myriad of devices are being designed (and retrofitted) to provide a more seamless and consistent experience.
- Effortlessness: Everything needs to be focused around simplicity for the user (you).
Under this new formula users can expect easier navigation and a more unified experience across PCs, tablets and mobile phones.
“Our design philosophy is to integrate power with simplicity,” Wiggins wrote. “We want to keep our look simple and clean, but behind the seemingly simple design, use new technologies.”
The makeover wants users to be able to focus. Thus, the Focus part of the three stands for getting its navigation elements out of the way of what is going on in the browser window.
“Even simple changes, like using bolder colors for actionable buttons or hiding navigation buttons until they are actually needed, can help you better focus on only what you need at the moment.”
For comparison, here is what the original Google homepage in 1997 looked like:
