Not to be outdone by all the huge Google+, and Facebook Video Chat news coming out this week.  Youtube launched a new beta redesign they are calling Cosmic Panda today. I thought something like this might be in the works when I heard rumblings of a black progress bar on their video player.  It’s a Youtube Testtube project where “YouTube engineers and developers test out recipes and concoctions that aren’t quite fully baked and invite you to tell us how they’re coming along.” which means the new features may never fully be implemented but I imagine some version of this will eventually make it’s way across the site.  If fully implemented Cosmic Panda would mark the most significant changes to the viewing experience yet. You can try it out here.

Check out the below screenshots of how channels, playlists, and individual videos appear in Cosmic Panda

How Channels appear in Cosmic Panda

Nice clean designs all around.

Youtube Playlists in Cosmic Panda

I’ve long been a fan of viewing videos along a black background, the UX for individual videos is great too.

Individual Videos on Cosmic Panda

Have you tried Cosmic Panda?  What do you think of the new design?