Apple Mail VIP Contacts
Interface Design
Focus
User Interface
Industry
Mobile Communication
Timeline
April 2024
7 days
Role
UI Designer
The Mail App
Apple Mail is a free email client included with Apple's operating systems across Macs, iPhones, and iPads. It's known for its clean interface and seamless integration with the Apple ecosystem, allowing for easy interaction with other services like Calendar and Contacts. Features like Smart Mailboxes, which use rules to automatically organize emails, help users efficiently manage their inbox.
Overview
This project aimed to address inconsistencies in Apple Mail's VIP mailbox feature across different platforms, proposing a unified design that allows for granular VIP contact selection.
View Figma File
User needs: Many users desire more granular control over VIP notifications, especially as users reported that they can only access specific VIP's emails on MacOS.
Business goals: A granular user experience improves user satisfaction and reduces support requests.
Design trends: By adhering to Apple's Human Interface Guidelines and utilizing existing UI components, this design seamlessly integrates with the current Mail app.
Design Approach
Apple Mail has become a staple email client for millions of users across Apple devices. But have you ever felt the frustration of diving into different Apple Mail versions and struggling to locate specific VIP messages? The VIP experience lacks this functionality across its impacted platforms. This project addresses this fragmentation for mobile by proposing a simple solution to view specific VIP contacts and view their emails across all platforms.
The component used is from Apple's existing design system, and is currently used as a filter on the Apple Stocks landing page.
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Goal 1
Granular VIP Selection: Clearer designation of the VIP Mailbox and VIP contacts allowing for granular selection of any of the user’s starred contacts.
Goal 2
Intuitive & Seamless Design: Consistent design experience that feels intuitive and seamless to Apple, with little change to the Apple Mail experience.
Goal 3
Consistent User Experience: Prioritizing a consistent user experience with more tailored interactions for the native and web-based apps (iCloud, Mail).
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Deliverables
Above: A dropdown, inspired by a component on Apple Stock's homepage, is the simplest way to toggle among VIP mail, keeping clicks to a minimum.
Below: The underlying architecture of the VIP mailbox remains largely unchanged, ensuring existing functionalities operate as expected, such as managing VIPs.
Interested in seeing the entire design iteration process, platform to platform? View the Figma File.
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Conclusion
Providing consistency across all platforms an application is available on is always the overall goal. Maintaining consistent design and functionality is vital for two key reasons: user experience and brand loyalty. Interestingly, with the news of a major Apple Mail redesign in iOS 18, it will be really interesting to see how Apple addresses VIP functionality and if it aligns with the ideas presented here. The preview confirms they finally took the plunge for the much-needed Mail overhaul.
Below: iCloud's mockup for granular selection of starred contacts, whereas the current Home experience only provides a "VIP" link to view all its mail.
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