For Project 1 I explored with gmail for the weekend. My plan for approaching this was to look around at all the controls and widgets that gmail offers. An average user of this application just checks there inbox, and sends emails for the most part. The intended audience is students and people in the workplace who rely on communication and file sharing. I use gmail every single day and I only use it for those few functions. So the first part that I decieded to look was the chat portion of gmail which they call Hangouts. I remember using AIM back in the day through AOL, but I’ve never used googles instant messaging. There are three main buttons for this call/text function and they are Hangout Contact, Hangout Conversations and Phone Calls.
This picture is of the chat window and it’s in the bottom left area of the desktop window on the gmail webpage. This means that Google definitely still demes this a useful part of the application considering its so prominent on the screen every time you log into gmail You can add contacts, set moods, chat, and call too. For my calls they were free, but for international calls there is a charge. When you click the call button, there is a dollar sign that pops up next to an american flag. 
The hangouts dashboard is put together very nicely. It is clear to see the simple and clean look of the interface. There is not too many colors or smaller buttons like an average desktop application. It has the look of a mobile smartphone like an iPhone or Galaxy. After using all of the communication functions on gmail, it is clear to see that this application has everything to offer. The majority of people at this point in time use there smartphones for calling and messaging through a carrier but this is an easy alternative if you are using a computer. All my reactions to this part of gmail show that it is basically trying to have an app for every form of networking. Email is definitely still used for school and work pretty often. And googles attempt to intertwine all these different apps into gmail sure shows that they have somewhere to store everything for you. By clicking through that chats calls and contacts, Google will redirect you to different layouts to interact with such as Google Voice, Google Contacts, and the Hangouts app which is on iOS and Android as well. Google provides an easy way to communicate in any form. It’s funny because I honestly get confused because Google has so many different sub applications that all have similar interfaces.
Another function of gmail that I used was the gmail labs. These are little programs that will change how your gmail works for you. So in a sense your customizing certain functions, but the lab can be taken off gmail at any time because they are tests. I felt a little bit of freedom having this capability of using these tests. So I sent in feedback to google complaining that Auto-Advance doesn’t work so that it would get taken off labs. 
Gmail allows you to have custom themes on your desktop. The background is filled with a pre downloaded theme, or an image of your choice. I took a screenshot of my page and set it as the theme. I repeated this 4-5 times, making it so that the final image was a montage of many buttons and messages. This causes a lot of confusion when navigating through the page because you kind of forget which button works and which is from the image. Under settings you can click the share your theme, and gmail will provide you with a link of your theme. I emailed my theme to 5 of my good friends with the pre written phrase that Google provides for you..
Hey,
I’m using a custom theme in Gmail on the Web and I think you’ll like it too!
Check it out on your desktop or laptop.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?tm=1#settings/themes/customlight?https%3A%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-j4MZyksspSU%2FWm99qh-QVRI%2FAAAAAAAAELA%2FU6NH0_fHO_4MVhq2IDF7QQiiH6yW2XyXQCLcBGAs%2Fs0%2FScreen%252BShot%252B2018-01-29%252Bat%252B2.01.18%252BPM.png
I thought using the application for something it’s not meant for would be sort of funny. It’s clear to see that gmail is very easy to use and the reason for having the themes is to make it even easier and more tailored for the user. And by making one very confusing I thought that would disrupt the system of gmail. I didn’t say anything to the people I shared the theme with, I just send the one that gmail provided me with