Fresh New Paint, As Google Gmail Gets A Material Theme Facelift

Material is Google's design language, and the company is making sure that its vast arrays of apps get the facelift they need.

This time, it's Gmail's turn. The email service from Google is getting the touch that makes it look fresh on both iOS and Android.

The first noticeable change is the convenient giant search box on top. This replaces the red bar that was prominent on the previous design.

Google also puts user’s profile picture on the right-hand side in the main screen, rather than away inside the navigation drawer.

Additional updates include the ability to view attachments, like photos and documents, in a much easier manner. Here, users can open them without having to open the email or scroll down through the conversations.

The attachment is visible right from the main inbox view, which is again, convenient.

Gmail - Material - January 2019
The old Material Design (left), and the redesigned Gmail with Material Theme (right)

"This update is part of a larger effort to make G Suite look and act like a family of products, designed in the Google Material Theme with ease of use in mind," said Google.

Indeed, the interface makes Gmail a lot familiar with anybody who has ever used Gmail's web app. It even includes the ability to select three different density styles.

With the Material Theme update, users can also see some new fonts, as well as other visual tweaks.

In terms of functionality, the mobile app is also getting a few new features that put it on par with the web version.

Read: More White Space On Google's Material Design To Make Products Shine Better

And just like on the desktop, Gmail users can choose between using the default view, as well as a comfortable and compact style.

The default view has a generous amount of white space and the same attachment clip underneath the email preview as the web version. As for the comfortable view and the compact view, Google removes a lot of the space between messages to show users more emails at a glance.

Minor updates include the ability to switch between multiple Gmail account by tapping the profile picture on the main screen.

Another neat addition to the mobile app, is the large phishing and scam warning box. This particular feature has been on Gmail's web app for a while, popping up when users open emails suspected of phishing. It's great to have this addition on Gmail's mobile app.

Gmail - phishing warning
The red phishing warning on the redesigned Gmail app

The internet tech giant has been overhauling various of its web apps with the updated Material Design in mind.

In line with Google’s Material Design guidelines, all the styles and feature are relatively subtle, but indeed welcome. The animations for example, don't take a lot of time to load, but give the visual cues to users about what's going on.

Previously in 2018, Gmail on the web has been given a substantial overhaul that included a new look and a bunch of new features, while in the following months Google debuted updated Material Design guidelines, which were intended to help app designers and developers to work with the original Material Design philosophy, but with their own distinctive brand style in mind.

Over the past months, Google has rolled out Material Design-focused updates on the web to Calendar, Drive, and Docs/Sheets/Slides/Sites. The company has also updated its Calendar app for Android with the updated Material Theme.

Following that and Gmail, Google said that it is planning to roll Material Theme to the rest of its G Suite mobile apps.

Previously, a week prior, Google introduced a number of shortcut features to Gmail, including undo and redo functionalities when composing an email, and a shortcut for strikethrough text.

"As we look to the future, we want to take a more focused approach that will help us bring the best email experience to everyone."

Published: 
30/01/2019