Google is embarking on a series of interface updates to help strip out unnecessary clutter and make Gmail more beatiful. Google said that the changes would not going to happen all at once and that they would be gradually released over the next few months.

Starting today, Gmail users will see the "Preview" and "Preview (Dense)" themes in the Themes tab in Gmail Settings. Gmail's new interface will eventually expand dynamically to accommodate different screen sizes and user preferences, but until then users can pick the information density that they prefer.

Here's what one of the new themes currently looks like:



And in conversation view:



Other improvements include a cleaner, modern look but also few rough edges. In particular, some Labs features may look a little strange in the new themes. Gmail's team plans to fix these issues as they roll out changes in the coming months. Google will also release some updated themes that embody the same design principles but are better suited to working in a dark environment, use a different color palette, or include the illustrations around the inbox.

Like Gmail, Google Calendar is also getting a new look.