For some reason, one of my browsers decided to be the recipient of a Google redesign today. It looks like they haven’t rolled this out to everyone, but for what it’s worth, here’s how my internet pipes now look.

Above is the homepage. The recent AJAX resolve still applies, but the whole design has had a refresh. It was sparse to begin with, but it now seems even whiter, with flashy new buttons.

There's also a new logo. No longer anchored to the site by it's former drop shadow, it now pops off the page right into your lap.

But wait! There's more!

Updated Search Engine Result Page (SERP)

The updated SERP is also super clean. The left bar is now an AJAX slider that remembers your most recently used tools. Under the search bar there is a location identifier. It plopped me in Chicago, which isn't correct, but I now have some feedback on where I'm being placed, and I can change it right there.

Images SERP

Updates (Twitter) SERP

The same design has been translated across most of the other tools. Shopping and maps are currently left out. In all, the various search tools seem way more visually integrated.

I’m not sure how they did it, but page loads are also more instantaneous than ever before. Like, mysteriously fast. I'm not sure if this is real, or just some weird side-effect of the redesign on my psychology.

Overall: It’s really clean. It’s wicked fast. It’s location aware. Less is more. Almost all of the tools are now super integrated into a common interface.

I’m still not sure if I like it. I feel like I’m cheating... Sneaking out with another search engine. Younger, sexier, faster, but without all those nuanced flaws that I’ve grown to love.