Apple Mail Redesign
Maherah Muqri
October 2025
Goal
The goal of this project was to thoroughly analyze the Apple Mail app to gain an understanding of what could be improved. Step 1 was to identify pain points. Step 2 was to ideate and come up with solutions. And step 3 was creating a prototype in Figma, including a full redesign with the changes made.
Identify Pain Points
I began by starting from scratch on the Mail app on my Mac. After that, I went through simple tasks one might do on an email application and was able to find 3 main pain points I wanted to focus on.
Pain Point 1: Density
The first thing that stood out to me was how dense the inbox seemed. I found myself wanting to find a way to edit the view of the inbox, but could not find a way.
The view of the inbox as shown in the image can look cluttered and hard to decipher, especially for those who have vision impairments or difficulty reading smaller text. Yet, the application had no intuitive way to change the spacing.
Pain Point 2: Hidden Categories
The next pain point was not being able to fully see all of the categories on the top part of the inbox. The "All Mail" category is not visible at all when another category is selected. Even when you expand the inbox frame, the category is completely cut off.
Pain Point 3: Creating Folders/Mailboxes
As I was exploring the application, I hovered over some headings on the sidebar and noticed a "+" with no label. I tried it and found out that it was a way to create a new "mailbox", or in other words, folder. This stood out to me because it didn't seem very obvious that it was to create a new folder, and was in need of some sort of label or caption to describe what you were adding.
Ideation
After finding the pain points, I sat down and brainstormed solutions. I looked through the application and created rough wireframes, and came to the conclusion that pain points could be solved with adjustments like spacing and adding menus to unused space on the sidebar.
Redesign: Spacing
To combat the lack of viewing options for the application, I created a "View Settings" menu at the bottom of the sidebar. This menu allows you to change the spacing of the inbox in 3 ways: Compact, Comfortable (default), and Spacious. The menu also allows you to sort by "Unread First"
Redesign: Hidden Categories
The issue with the hidden "All Mail Category" was one of the most troubling. In order to fix the problem, I borrowed space from where the message would show on the right side of the screen, while still allowing for ample room to view your emails. The result was an easy to view icon list for the top categories, with no cut-off categories.
Redesign: New Folders
In order to make sure there was an obvious way to manage and add mailboxes, I added a small menu option on the sidebar to add mailboxes, without having to hover around. The result is a clear and intuitive way of organizing your emails.
Reflection
This project allowed me to understand what someone may need in an email application. As an avid Gmail user, I never took the time to explore Apple's Mail application, so I came into this project with no idea what to expect. I ended up learning a lot about how to make a mail application user friendly and intuitive, without looking cluttered or hiding things away where people can't find them. It also allowed me the opportunity to create a minimalist and clean web application, rather than focusing on something bold and maximalist. Below is a screenshot of the fully revamped application, as well as a link to the full prototype.
​
