Mountain View, California — Global search engine titan Google is on a rampage this week, first it unfurled social networking extravaganza Google+, then redesigns Google Homepage, and now it is fiddling around with Gmail. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company confirmed that it is changing the inbox design for its wildly popular Gmail service, and letting users preview the new look out, the company announced in a blog post on Thursday.
With all the attention being focused on Google+ and legal battles, even though Google’s renewed Gmail is out and being previewed.
According to Google’s official Gmail Blog, the idea was to “chip out unnecessary clutter and make Gmail as beautiful as it is powerful.” “This is part of a Google-wide effort to bring you an experience that is more focused, elastic, and effortless across all of our products,” said Jason Cornwell, a Google user experience designer, in a blog post.
A preview of the new Gmail inbox (left) alongside the current theme (right.) (Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Hence, unlike the ordinary themes that deals with color scheme, these new themes are part of a larger redesign that addresses elements like the size and shapes of the Compose button, search buttons, and navigation controls.
The renewed look is virtually identical to Google+ which helps keep an overall theme for Google and has cut the clutter away and still keep it as a powerhouse e-mail solution. While Google did not tip its hand with regard to the new Gmail features, it did provide instructions on how to access a sneak preview of the new Gmail layout.
Craftily concealed in the Themes section of the interface and named “Preview” and “Preview (dense),” the clean look is more spread out than the classic Gmail interface, basking in white space that makes it easier to read.
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Besides, it also boast a large, red Compose button (see image above) instead of a smaller gray one, and sharper edges throughout the design. The color scheme of these two preview themes remains predominantly red, white, and gray, but Google says more colors will follow.
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The company says it will be gradually working on these new designs over the next few months. “The changes are not going to happen all at once. We know that you love and care about Gmail as much as we do, and we will be working on these upgrades gradually over the next few months to allow plenty of time to understand and incorporate your feedback into the evolving design,” Cornwell, wrote in a blog post.
For now, curious Gmail users can take a sneak peak of the design you see here by first logging in to Gmail account’s and head to “Mail Settings” next click on the “Themes” tab and then you will see two new themes options, “Preview” and “Preview (dense)”. Select one, and your inbox will be instantly graced with a cleaner, more refined look.