FeaturedProduct Design · 2022

Gmail Subscriptions

A product thinking case study examining Gmail's subscription management gap, resulting in a fully-functional Figma prototype, and a real Google feature three years later.

Role, Product Designer

Duration, September – December 2022

Team, Solo

By the numbers

Users interviewed, 3

Flows explored, 3

Years ahead of Google, 3

Jump in

Observation

Listen, I was a busy college student, and I can't have my time wasted. So how does Gmail get away with it? I scroll through my Primary inbox, trying to gather important bits of information as I read the subject lines on my screen:

[INFO 3300] New Assignment Released
Cornell's New Mechatronics Certificate
Score Free Delivery @ Jack's Grill
48 hours for 15% off rides
Laura, it's time to book that Thanksgiving trip!

Wait... what? How is this in my Primary inbox?

I have too many subscriptions living in my inbox that have gone out of control. Some understand that their home is the (unchecked) Promotions tab, yet some sneak into my Very Important Primary inbox. Why is this so?

Gather Background Info

User Research

I talked to users across the spectrum - from zero unread emails to astronomical amounts - and found common patterns regardless of inbox style.

Unread emailsat 0

Astronomical amounts ofunread emails

Common patterns

Mainly stay in Primary inbox
Only declutter when it becomes overwhelming or necessary
Most had no idea what their Promotions tab contained

Create a Hypothesis

If Gmail users gain more control over the emails they receive, then they will be able to use Gmail more efficiently and feel less overwhelmed by their inboxes.

Defining the Problem

The problem is a lack of control over incoming information. Inboxes full of emails you can't manage feel like "junk, you don't know what's there, and there's too much of it.

As a busy college student, I want to check my emails quickly. But I can't, because:

It's hard to know how many subscriptions you have.
I get overwhelmed with too much mail in my inbox.

Test Hypothesis

Brainstorming

Brainstorming with peers surfaced a few directions, I landed on a subscription list view with built-in unsubscribe controls.

Market Research

Yahoo Mail already had a centralized subscription page, a useful reference for the features Gmail would need:

Sender's name
Sender's email
Filtering
Option to unsubscribe immediately

Image of phone with Yahoo subscriptions page. Page has 2 tabs: Active and Unsubscribed. Active tab is open. Tab shows multiple subscriptions with each subscription having a name, email, amount of emails monthly, and the option to unsubscribe. There is an option to filter subscriptions at the top. — Yahoo Mail's centralized subscription page

Entry Points

Before designing the page, I explored three ways to reach it:

Unsubscribe Box: Gmail's existing prompt when you haven't opened a sender's email in 30 days. Proof it already tracks subscriptions.
Sidebar: Groups with other email functions; placement matters for context.
Bottom Bar: Always visible, but competes with other Google product integrations.

Prototype of subscription page entry point for sidebar. Simply says "Subscription" with an icon next to it. — Sidebar entry point

Prototype of bottom bar from Gmail with subscriptions icon added to it. Icons are: Mail, Subscriptions, Chat, Meet, and Call. — Bottom bar entry point

Mid to High Fidelity

I shipped the unsubscribe box and sidebar entry points. The box is contextual but infrequent, behavior-dependent on not opening emails for 30 days, so the sidebar provides a consistent fallback.

Designs follow Google's design system so the feature feels native, including the three-dot entry point used across other Google products.

Unsubscribe Box entry flow

Select the image to view full size

Analyze Results

User Testing

Subscription selection bar: Spacing was inconsistent across devices and icons were unclear, so I replaced the category icon with a simple gear.
Sidebar entry: A dropdown under Promotions confused users; they wanted the entry point at the very bottom of the sidebar.

Final Prototype

Gmail Subscriptions Prototype

Considerations and Conclusions

KPIs and Future Features

At launch, I'd track:

Feature Adoption Rate: Tracks how many users actively engage with the Subscriptions page after discovery.
Inbox Cleanliness Index: Measures the reduction in promotional emails reaching the Primary inbox over time.
Net Promoter Score: Gauges whether users find the feature valuable enough to recommend.

Further Observations

In Fall 2025, Google shipped a native subscription management feature for Gmail that bears a striking resemblance to the prototype I independently designed in 2022. The entry points, list view structure, and unsubscribe interactions closely mirror the solution I arrived at through this process. I documented the similarities in a LinkedIn post comparing the two side by side.

Conclusion

The most important design decision in this project wasn't visual, it was knowing what not to solve. Gmail's subscription problem isn't a categorization problem or a filtering problem. It's a visibility and control problem. Users didn't know what they were subscribed to, and they had no centralized place to act on it.

Right problem, simple solution > Wrong problem, elaborate solution: Solving for control was more effective than solving for filtering or categorizing elaborately.
Existing design systems ≠ constraint: Working within Google's design system sharpened fitting in so seamlessly that users feel the feature was always there.
Good product design is verifiable: The same user pain and logical process led Google to an independently similar solution in Fall 2025.