Gmail Drops Four New Themes

The Gmail user interface team pulled four new themes out of the hat and delighted their users once again. The announcement came today, September 4, 2009, on the official Gmail blog under a chat between designer Jake Knapp and developer Manu Cornet.

These four themes (which are actually three, but we will explain that later) come to complete a user interface that any email provider will be proud of. Currently at 35, the user interface team continues to expand its portfolio by creating smart and sleek themes for one of the world's biggest mail providers.

These themes, for the ones that don't know where to find them, can be accessed by clicking the top-right upper menu link called “Settings” and then choosing the “Themes” tab in the next window. The themes can be applied just by clicking on them.

The first theme is called “Orca Island” and was inspired by the designer's home state (Washington, USA), and will present a new seashore island inspired background photo every day of the week.

The second is called “High Score” and fits in with the old-school mood that seems to have resurrected these days in web-design, presenting the Gmail interface as an old arcade game menu. The background color will automatically change from black to different shades of blue, depending on local time.

The third is called “Turf” and features a background picture inspired by those cool grass wallpapers that were so popular amongst Windows users around the Globe. The colors and resolutions fit in perfectly for those Greenpeace kind of guys.

The fourth is actually a little script, not quite a theme, that will automatically select a random theme each time the user loads a Gmail window.

For those that don't like any of these Gmail native 35 themes, there are various solutions out there ranging from desktop software that will automatically detect when you access Gmail and use a local stored theme, and up to Mozilla Firefox plugins. The Globex Designs “Google Redesigned” plugin comes to mind.

Screenshots of all new themes are presented below.