Youtube Unveils The Cosmic Panda !

One thing is obvious, the people over at Google/Youtube are not resting on their laurels. In what you could call a stunning video coup de tat, Youtube unveiled today a revamped (experimental) design, dubbed “Cosmic Panda”.

The intro page to Cosmic Panda is worded with subtlety, but the redesign itself is anything but subtle. User opinions will differ, but my initial reaction was “wow!”. The new design is slick, bold and modern; it has that “carbon” web 2.0 look and feel and definitely makes you want to stick around. Ofcourse the people at Youtube are always making tweaks here and there. In January of 2010, Youtube unveiled a new “watch page” and of course channel design has its fair share of tweaks over the years too. But Cosmic Panda is truly a step into the ultra-modern era of online video. The player itself is set against a dark background which helps to give focus to the video. Channels have a slicker look, although I did notice that a URL on my channel wasn’t “clickable”.

I am sure it wasn’t intentional (*cough*), but I couldn’t help noticing how much more the ads on videos stand out. They seem to be almost inviting me to click. Like I said, I am sure this very visible benefit to Youtube’s bottom line isn’t intentional. Chicanery aside, Youtube delivers a ton of value for free, so I am sure its users won’t mind.

I am sure there will be lots to see as the feedback data is analysed, I for one am not switching back to the “old” Youtube, this one is too blissful.

If you haven’t seen the new Youtube, watch the video below to see what the fuss is about.