I am overjoyed that Gmail now offers Themes, not just to spruce up my mailbox, but that it also provides some kind of look and feel variation that adds to the experience of an already great email service – different, but great. Like iGoogle, some of the themes offer a “dark/day” background to denote the time of day – a nice reminder, definitely adds to the experience, doesn’t get in the way.
I’m using it to process all my mail, and I’m glad I made the decision to do so. Google’s commitment to the service has been excellent, and I added the Calendar tab to my sidebar a week ago and I like it. Not all of the lab features are what I need, but I think if the teams are listening to users, that’s a really good way to go.
Not every function, interface change, feature, design has to be usable. It can be enjoyable too. Remember Emotional Design – Why we love (or hate) everyday things. Gmail is my everyday thing, and I want to love it, and I do.
That’s what it’s all about, really.
