That whole process seems plausibly ethical. The problem is that most companies go straight from “considering a major redesign” to “implement the new version” and then switch half of users over to the new UI and leave half on the old UI. And even with that whole step, I have literally seen disassociative episodes occur because of having a user interface changed (specifically, the Gmail interface update that happened last year). It should be done only with extreme care.
That whole process seems plausibly ethical. The problem is that most companies go straight from “considering a major redesign” to “implement the new version” and then switch half of users over to the new UI and leave half on the old UI. And even with that whole step, I have literally seen disassociative episodes occur because of having a user interface changed (specifically, the Gmail interface update that happened last year). It should be done only with extreme care.
Are you talking about the Inbox deprecation?
No, the one described in https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/12/17227974/google-gmail-design-features-update-2018-redesign that came in April 2018
That’s not talking about a UI refresh, but about Gmail adding new features:
Introduction of snooze
Introduction of smart reply
Offering attachment links in the message list view
Collapsable sidebar
Is that what you’re talking about or am I still looking at the wrong thing?
That rollout of new features also included a UI refresh making it look “cleaner.”
See https://www.cultofmac.com/544433/how-to-switch-on-new-gmail-redesign/, this HN post, and https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/25/17277360/gmail-redesign-live-features-google-update which says “The new look, which exhibits a lot of softer forms and pill-shaped buttons, will have to prove itself over time”