
A preview of Gmail’s new look - sahillavingia
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/preview-of-gmails-new-look.html?utm_source=twitter
======
latch
I'm a pretty huge fan of all the new Google designs. Plus, gmail, the top bar,
fonts.... They've kept things minimalistic while making things just feel
cleaner and crisper. Whoever is leading this redesign is doing a fantastic
job.

~~~
joebadmo
Agreed. And according to Steven Levy[1]'s Wired article[2], it's Andy
Hertzfeld, who was on the original Apple Macintosh team.

[1] Who wrote _In the Plex_.

[2] [http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/inside-google-plus-
so...](http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/inside-google-plus-social/all/1)

~~~
nostrademons
Andy Hertzfeld did the Circles editor in Google+. The site-wide redesign is
done by Google Creative Labs, which I think is behind the Search On
advertisement series and the Parisian Love Superbowl ad. It's also had
significant input and direction from the individual teams, eg. most of the
Search UX team was involved in the websearch portion of the redesign.

~~~
joebadmo
You're right, I apologize for the inaccuracy. Here's Hertzfeld himself on the
subject:
[https://plus.google.com/117840649766034848455/posts/FddaP6je...](https://plus.google.com/117840649766034848455/posts/FddaP6jeCqp?tab=mX)

------
albertsun
I really hope they preserve the Classic view. I can't stand how spaced out
everything is. I went from being able to see 10 or so contacts in Gchat
without scrolling down to just 4.

Edit: That's with the "Dense" view. Regular is even worse.

~~~
timmaah
Way too spaced out for my liking.

I go from seeing 34 messages per page to 24. And about 20 letters of the
message summary are dropped.

~~~
zachrose
Maybe they want you to search.

~~~
mh-
ironically, they need to improve the quality of the gmail search feature for
that to be a viable direction in which to push users; the responsiveness and
the lack of wildcards immediately comes to mind.

~~~
nirvdrum
The lack of stemming is pretty bad, too. If I have a message with the word
"dog" but I search for "dogs," I won't get any results. A search for "dog"
will return the message, however.

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ianterrell
In the old Gmail interface, my eye goes straight to my inbox. In this new
interface, it goes straight to the bold blue "Search Mail" in the header—which
is proportionally much larger than necessary.

The new look for Google is a huge step up overall, but that's a huge usability
violation to me.

~~~
sunchild
Seems consistent with "search not sort".

~~~
ianterrell
Sure, but not "search not read your emails."

~~~
sunchild
Very true!

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RexRollman
I just wish they would get rid of the invite widget. It served a purpose when
Gmail was invite only but now it just wastes space.

~~~
nikcub
I still use it all the time to convert people to gmail. In the past month
alone I have converted 10+ people, mostly non-tech (ie. parents, brothers,
godparents etc.)

Google are very analytics driven in product design, if it wasn't being used
and wasn't serving a purpose, I believe they would have removed it already or
freed up that real estate for something else

~~~
smokinn
If Google was that analytics driven they would get rid of it for people that
don't use it. I haven't used it since gmail was in beta, I definitely haven't
used it for at least 5+ years. And yet it's still there.

------
scottkrager
Holy ad batman. The new themes move the small text ad to the bottom of the
page....but then it floats as you scroll.

That's one way to increase clicks.

I'd try the new theme if it wasn't for that...it's very distracting when
scrolling down.

~~~
chrishenn
I didn't notice due to adblock, but Gmail has provided such a fantastic
service for free over the years and really improved the quality of the webmail
experience. I don't think I could complain much even if they put more adclick
spots in Gmail — it still beats all the alternatives in my book.

~~~
joejohnson
Which adblock are you using? AdBlock Plus (on Chrome) still shows the yellow
bar and the non-link text.

~~~
nollidge
I'm not the OP, but: AdBlock on Chrome and subscribed to Adblock Custom and
EasyList lists.

------
brianwillis
I just can't get past the black bar. After years of it being white, black just
feels imposing.

~~~
hugh3
Speaking of which... am I crazy or is there a new black bar at the top of HN
too?

(edit: removed second sentence after finding out actual reason)

~~~
radq
I think it is because Robert Morris passed away recently.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2712469>

~~~
habitatforus
Thanks for mentioning this. I thought it was a Google joke.

~~~
joejohnson
Oh, I did too. Now I feel insensitive :(

~~~
golgo13
I thought the same thing. Now I feel a bit bad. :(

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tnorthcutt
Does anyone with an Apps account have the ability to preview the theme(s)? I
don't, in my apps account.

Yet another example of Google treating apps customers as 2nd class citizens.
See also: account/login issues and lack of profiles (which means no Places, no
Google+, and other products). Google is effectively ignoring what are often
their best/most enthusiastic customers in by doing things like this. Very
puzzling.

~~~
stanleydrew
Theme is on for both mail and calendar in my apps account.

~~~
tnorthcutt
Thanks for the reply. Odd that themes are available for some accounts but not
others. I did find this help thread that originated in 2008(!) where others
describe having the problem also:
[http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Apps/thread?t...](http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Apps/thread?tid=57924f37281864bb&hl=en)

~~~
srdjanjovcic
In domain management, there is an option to turn on themes for e-mail users.

~~~
tnorthcutt
Indeed, there is. I'd looked for it yesterday, but couldn't find it. Thanks
for the tip!

------
bdonlan
There's a lot more white space in the new design - enough vertical space is
lost for about seven conversation entries. Not sure I like this change for
that reason...

~~~
mbrubeck
Did you see that there's a separate "Dense" version of the new theme, which
reduces the white space back to around its previous level?

~~~
bdonlan
Yes, the non-dense one is even worse :)

~~~
nl
Try shift-refresh(!), especially after switching
Standard->Preview->Preview(Dense)

I had assumed Gmail wouldn't need this, but it made a big difference. Looks
like they have a slight caching problem.

------
marcamillion
Wow...Google is on FIRE! That shake-up at the top, seems to be bearing fruit.

This is exciting.

------
5l
Interesting that they're adding additional details of the person you're
conversing with to the right above the ads. I wonder what that means for
Rapportive.

~~~
joebadmo
That's called the people widget, and they added that a while ago:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2589119>

Rapportive responded quite well: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2613101>

------
krashidov
It looks like Google has somewhat abandoned the Google Colors for a black blue
and maroon(?) color scheme.

They really want people to notice these changes, it creates more publicity for
Google+.

~~~
lachlanj
Really disliking the red, it stands out way too much and implies urgency.
Seems like a really bad UX choice to me?

~~~
orofino
I'm inclined to disagree. They're using the color sparingly to call attention
to the most important parts of the interface. Coloring compose with the
standard gray for the other buttons would mean it is lost in the interface and
difficult to see. I like it quite a bit.

------
jeffreyrusso
My biggest complaint about the way Gmail currently looks is that it lacks
structure - different features and components run right into each other. It's
messy and feels cluttered even though it isn't over-designed. (That's a
complaint that holds true for most Google products.) This new design looks
like a real step in the right direction. It looks much cleaner and more
structured. Big +1 from me.

------
DanI-S
I'm happy to see Google taking as much care and pride in the visual
engineering that goes into their products as they do the back-end.

~~~
yesimahuman
Something I'm surprised about is that after all the testing google was doing
this spring, this seems completely out of the blue. I wonder if they did test
this on a larger scale and I just missed it, or they are winging it? If so,
kudos to them for taking a huge risk.

As an aside, I just realized that the new design reminds me heavily of Ubuntu
with the dark gray and orange highlights.

------
davezatch
Things are a little too spread out perhaps, but I already love that the top
action bar (archive, spam, delete, etc) follows you down the page. As someone
who's never quite mastered gmail keyboard shortcuts, I was constantly checking
items then scrolling to the top or bottom to manage them. Nice little
timesaver.

------
Splines
I'm going to be honest here and say that I think it looks horrible. The ALL-
CAPS on buttons looks amateurish, and I want my separators and selected-mail-
box background highlighting back.

The non-dense theme also is _too_ sparse.

I suppose this is just because I'm used to how it looks, but hopefully they'll
keep the old themes around.

------
chrisvallejos
Google's UI upgrades have me really excited. What I really like about Google
and all their products is how utilitarian they are. Their products are not
about looking pretty, but about giving me the most useful features I need.
What I like about the new UI look is that they are thinking about the
aesthetics of design more. Gmail used to look like a bland data grid from
excel, and it was very dense with information. Now there are more pixels in
between rows and columns in the new Gmail, giving the layout visual space. The
color changes also make the UI more interesting to look at and quicker to
navigate. But the best part is the dark navigation bar at the top. Love that.

------
orofino
Really liking the work. I'm really looking forward to what they have in store
for Reader.

~~~
maverick2
I think Reader need a complete re-design, tweaks on line of Gmail won't help.
I have some 1400+ items in my subscription list. And it is not comfortable to
read all that stuff in google reader's current avatar. So for now feedly has
rescued me. Google reader should offer a feedly type opt-in view. Or it can
have a two layouts one for power users and another for people with two digit
subscriptions.

~~~
sorbus
If you use folders to keep things separate and take advantage of the
compressed view (accessed by pressing "2"), I find that Reader is extremely
usable for dealing with large numbers of feeds - I'm at 116 subscriptions
right now. Admittedly, that isn't anywhere near the 1400+ subscriptions you
claim (how do you have time to deal with all of them?), but I feel that Reader
would scale well if I did increase to that number. I probably wouldn't be able
to deal with it, though.

------
ianterrell
But why is the top bar charcoal gray instead of the black seen on all the
other sites?

------
acak
This interface would be much more suited to tablet-sized screens.

Apart from information-density (which should be more forgiving on the tablet
form factor when compared to PCs), the spacing also makes this a touch-
friendly alternative to the Ajax-laden tablet interface.

For a PC screen, however, I'd say 'power users' quite like the higher
information density on the current UI. It's much more efficient if you think
about how far the eyes need to move and how much one needs to scroll to get to
an element on the page. Navigation is not much of a problem currently with a
precise device like the mouse and with keyboard shortcuts.

------
Newky
Although I appreciate the clean design, I find it blinding, I'm going to use
it for a few days and see how I get on but for now, the plethora of white
space seems to hurt my eyes!

------
martingordon
I like it a lot. It reminds of Whistler and Windows Mobile (yes, that's a good
thing). The only thing I would change would be to tighten up the outside
margins by about 50%.

My instant reaction to the lower visual density was negative, but after using
it for a little while, I think it's dense enough to be usable but sparse
enough to be calming. It's amazing what the removable of a few borders and
shaded areas does to the feeling of apprehension about email.

------
ww520
I actually don't kind much how it looks but speed is important. UI performance
is an important UX. Hopefully the new GMail UI is faster than before.

------
ajarmoniuk
I, for one, don't welcome the new look. The old overal Google look given an
air of unrefined, raw 'geekness'. I liked the feeling that I was using
something designed and made by scientists rather than enterpreneurs. This is,
saldy, finally going and Google is becoming one of many.

Of course look is not all, the quality of service they provide is uncompared.
I'm still a fan, but I really prefered the old days.

------
nikcub
so they added padding to everything?

~~~
ashamedlion
They have a "dense" theme, too that's more like regular Gmail.

~~~
bremac
It's closer, but it still increases the screen real-estate used by some
elements significantly - for example, the line item for each email displayed
in the inbox has grown from 23px tall to 29px tall in the redesign. Maybe I'm
in the minority, but I prefer higher information density.

------
watty
Wow, definitely keeping as my new theme. I had to disable the "Right-sided
chat" lab feature but works great other than that.

------
kmfrk
When I first saw Google+, I felt that it looked a lot like
[Helvetireader](<http://helvetireader.com/>) to the point where I thought that
they may have been (heavily) inspired.

With the new Gmail interface, this can't be a coincidence.

Credit where credit is due? Hell, are we talking about a blatant rip-off?

~~~
ericd
I don't think they look more similar than any other two random webapps from
the recent school of design thought.

------
shortformblog
Perhaps it's because I'm used to using the darker "Shiny" theme, which I've
had on for many years, but the colors of the Preview theme are way too bright
for my taste. I think they should come up with a more subdued version of it
that doesn't feel quite so loud. Functionally, though, it's great.

------
erikb
Hm. I'm actually quite happy with the design Gmail has right now. A customer
in a situation like this wonders, if any change to the interface doesn't just
mean more costs for me as the user (like the change of "open in new tab/open
in new window" between FF3 and FF4).

------
lachlanj
I really like the new apps and search interface, but the use of red is really
bugging me. Surely this is basic UI that urgent things are made red like
alerts etc. I fail to see why the 'compose mail' and 'create' calendar event
buttons need to be a glaring red?

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pg_bot
Hmm two issues that google needs to resolve with this. The new ad bar at the
bottom is constantly obstructed by waiting for mail.google.com ajax request,
so it is effectively useless. The color of the compose mail button needs to be
changed asap.

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ck2
It's just spaced out more, I don't see anything removed.

I hope I can change the vertical line density back.

~~~
noibl
There is a 'Preview (Dense)' variant of the theme which does exactly this.
It's still not as dense as before but I'm finding that to be a good thing.

I like this one a lot better than the classic which had way too much intrusive
background colour.

------
SandB0x
Just a few tweaks and a general tidy up. We'll barely notice it after a week
or so of use.

------
meow
The new theme looks good but the boundaries between the elements doesn't seem
well defined, giving a floating appearance to them. Also the background is
kind of glary.

------
uast23
It almost looks like the "html only" view of gmail which is originally meant
for slow connections. Nevertheless, lighter is better and it is definitely
soothing.

------
duomo
Gmail now gives YOU the benefit of the doubt, dropping that pesky 'Report' and
putting 'Spam' right up there with all the other important verbs of our time.

------
apgwoz
I'm going to complain about the amount of padding in the messages list per
message, but praise the rest. The redesign of most of Google is a welcome
change.

------
scrrr
I prefer a stronger contrast between read and unread messages. While the new
look looks great for search, maps etc. I find it less useful in GMail.

~~~
tintin
There are other contrast problems in this design. Colorblind people have a
hard time seeing what's selected.

------
floppydisk
Looks like they took some of the design ideas from their mobile version and
migrated them into the main one. Square(er) buttons being one example.

------
lasonrisa
It does look good and yet the only think I can think off is "cover fire", from
one of Spolsky's classic.

Google+ looks like a real improvement though.

------
phreeza
What happened to the Priority Inbox? I still see the add or remove priority
buttons, but there doesn't seem to be a proirity inbox?

------
joejohnson
I like that Google's new UI designs are using more buttons instead on text
links. This is easier to see at a quick glance.

------
steilpass
Am I the only one who was instantly reminded on <http://calvetica.com> ?

------
thethimble
After using it for a couple weeks, the bright red Compose Mail button is
really annoying. I hope they change that.

------
dmm
The article describes the new look as "modern". I hear that all the time. What
the hell does it actually mean?

~~~
mbrubeck
Its use here may connect to the Modern movement in design and architecture,
strongest in the mid-twentieth century, which emphasized simple shapes, lack
of ornamentation, and clean lines:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_architecture>

(Aside: Why does the Gmail preview use almost the same header style as the new
Google Calendar/Search/Maps/etc. theme, but with the colors and sizes slightly
altered? It's a minor difference, but distracting when switching tabs between
Gmail and any other Google site.)

~~~
cdcarter
I find it hard to believe they are saying it is a more modernist design.
Modernism was a very specific aesthetic, I believe they mean contemporary.

~~~
mbrubeck
I agree -- the designer here is maybe not consciously referring to Modernists
like Frank Lloyd Wright. He might just means that it "look more contemporary."
But twentieth-century modernism had a huge influence on why our culture thinks
some designs look more "modern" than others, and also helped make "modern" one
of the values on which we judge aesthetics in the first place.

------
mahrain
This may actually have me switch to using a site-specific browser for gmail
instead of mail.app!

------
kennyma
Looks great! So glad Google finally has some design talent instead of just
smart engineers.

------
yhlasx
That big red button is distracting, the rest is awesome. same with calendar

------
davidedicillo
I love the new design theme. Clean, minimal, elegant. Well done Google.

------
blntechie
Hate the new back button. Loved the simple hyperlink back to Inbox.

------
zyph
Basic White is still the best gmail theme.

------
skarayan
Looks like they got rid of Buzz?

~~~
hesselink
In the blog post it's gone, in the preview theme it's still there. I think it
means very little, since you could always turn it off in the settings.

It would make sense for them to discontinue Buzz though, since they now have
Google+.

------
dahawi
anyone else has the top bar in white even with the new theme ?

~~~
dchest
After reloading the page it became dark-grey.

~~~
spicyj
Yeah, strange that it isn't pure black.

~~~
alexmr
On my Gmail, it's a dark grey which I like, but in Calendar it's pure black. I
think the pure black is pretty jarring but the grey nicely transitions from
the browser bar.

~~~
stock_toaster
It is also pure black in greader.

~~~
dahawi
yeah, I guess eventually it'll be the same pure black as in g+ everywhere.
Also they should have it as a built-in in Chrome !

------
crizCraig
While the extra white space requires more scrolling, it makes it easier to
read, for me at least. It also makes it easier to click a message.

From <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_space_(visual_arts)>: _White space
should not be considered merely 'blank' space — it is an important element of
design which enables the objects in it to exist at all, the balance between
positive (or non-white) and the use of negative spaces is key to aesthetic
composition._

Most people actually seem to be liking it which is suprising to me since it's
such a dramatic change: <http://www.wepolls.com/r/1012846/Gmails-new-look>

~~~
dchest
"Most people" as in 11?

~~~
chrisvallejos
I remember for all the big Facebook updates the backlash was intense, but now
most embrace those changes as an improvement (700 million users testifies to
that). Google's changes seem to be embraced by many, I don't sense the extreme
backlash. I for one love the changes.

~~~
dchest
Me too, but I was referring to the link to his own website with the poll,
based on which the parent comment claimed that "most people" love the changes,
but it was a sample of only 11 people.

------
u48998
Yawn! I'm on TB, so don't care.

