YouTube on Tuesday rolled out both its refreshed logo and renewed desktop design to all users. The changes are intended for a digital world that demands dynamic response in order to best work across desktop and mobile devices, as well as size up or down accordingly.
The company announced the changes in a blog post by YouTube Chief Product Officer Neil Mohan.
“When YouTube launched 12 years ago, it was a single website that supported one video format, 320x240 at 4:3 aspect ratio. Fast forward to today, and YouTube lets you watch any combination of SD, HD, 4K, 360, 3-D, and live video on nearly every device with an internet connection – from desktops to phones, tablets to TVs, game consoles, and even VR headsets,” wrote Mohan.
“To put it simply, YouTube’s evolved … a lot. And we’re not even close to done. Over the last few months we’ve started releasing updates and will continue to throughout the rest of the year. When all is said and done, we’ll bring a new level of functionality and a more consistent look across our desktop and mobile experiences.”
YouTube’s new desktop design is intended to be cleaner and simpler and also includes a dark mode for viewers to use during nighttime viewing.
As for the logo, “[w]e have the word tube in a tube,” said Christopher Bettig, the head of YouTube’s art department told The Verge. “This is weird. No one know what this is.”
It’s also possible no one thought much about it, but “tube,” as in “boob tube,” has been slang for TV set, a household appliance that was once powered by vacuum tubes. Today, however, if people are watching YouTube on a TV set, it’s one that doesn’t include any tubes, and more likely, people are watching on their smart phones or desktop computers.
Beyond the updated design features, YouTube also is improving the user interface of its mobile app to work more smoothly with touch-focused devices. The navigation tabs are now found at the bottom of the app so they are closer to people’s thumbs, and the service is working to allow people to tap and swipe videos to fast-forward, rewind and slow down.
“We know this is a lot of change, but we want to make clear that there’s one thing that stays the same: YouTube’s mission. We’re here to give people a voice and show them the world – no matter what device they use.”
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