"In short, we tried to take all the things we strive for at Google and make them better: powerful technology, snappy results, simplicity and a fun and quirky personality. Our goal was to take a design known by millions of people and make it better."

The most obvious changes in the new design are:

• Search Options Panel

The search options panel which was introduced last May has been given a makeover and made a permanent feature in the left hand side.

In the end, we came up with a design that provides dynamic, relevant search tools on the left, while lightening and updating the aesthetics all around.

• New Logo and Colour Theme

For those of you wonder whats different with the logo, it has been give a slight facelift also. With the introduction of the left navigation creating a bit more clutter, the Google team wanted to lighten up the rest of the page " hence the changes to the logo.

The new logo is lighter, brighter and simpler. We took the very best qualities of our design " personality and playfulness " and distilled them.

People will be debating the pros and cons of the changes for some time, but ultimately, I think theyll be welcomed in the long term.

Searchers are becoming more sophisticated, so the search options will provide easy access to important filtering. And the colour enhancement, while only slight, offers a freshen up to a brand that has changed little for a number of years.

And with the final design now live, lets take a look at some of the designs that were dumped.

• The Blue Background

• The Universal Dividers

• The Blue Results