YouTube App – Light & Dark Mode Redesign

Hey Ceyhun, thanks for submitting your redesign! I’ve gone through your work and wanted to share some thoughts and feedback, focusing on both the UI and UX aspects.

While the redesign is visually clean, several UX decisions raise questions regarding reasoning, usability, and accessibility:

Accessibility & Usability Baseline

• The review does not address pre-existing accessibility or usability issues. It would be helpful to understand what problems this redesign was intended to solve and why certain changes were made.
• For example, are colour contrast, hierarchy, or interactive element sizes improved compared to the original interface? Without this context, it’s difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the redesign.

Navigation & Feature Placement

• Account profile was moved to the top navigation bar, and Library replaced it in the bottom nav. However, the switch device icon was completely omitted. What was the reasoning for removing this feature?
• The redesigned bottom nav bar, while following iOS 18 guidelines, feels like a downgrade: Extra rounded corners do not align with YouTube’s brand identity. Some elements now draw more attention than necessary (e.g., the “create video” action uses a different accent colour that stands out more than before).

Color & Contrast

• The subtitle text for videos, now grey, may not have enough contrast for readability or accessibility, particularly in light mode.
• Overall, the colour choices are not significantly different from the current YouTube interface, raising the question of why a full colour update was needed.

Light/Dark Mode Toggle

• Including the toggle in the Accounts screen is understandable, but its placement disrupts the natural flow of the options list.
• Some options that are typically more important—like “My Data & Privacy”—are visually deprioritised compared to light/dark mode.

Accounts Screen Content & Hierarchy

• The redesign omits sections for managing subscriptions or payments, which are key account functions.
• Hierarchy seems inconsistent: some lower-priority items appear above more critical actions.
• The current list of actions feels simplified but incomplete, reducing usability for users accustomed to YouTube’s full settings.

Reasoning & Comparison

• Without side-by-side comparisons of the original vs redesigned screens, it’s unclear why certain updates were necessary.
• Decisions around iconography, nav bar design, colour palette, and action prioritisation need better justification to show how they improve UX rather than simply changing the look.

From a UI perspective, the redesign is clean and modern. However, looking at UX, there are multiple areas needing clearer reasoning, improved hierarchy, and attention to accessibility.

Providing context about the original pain points, the rationale for changes, and side-by-side comparisons would make the redesign stronger and more user-focused.

This is a strong start with a clean, modern look. With a bit more polish around UX reasoning, accessibility, and hierarchy, I think this could be an excellent redesign. Keep up the great work!

Ceyhun, your redesign looks clean and modern, and adding clearer reasoning around UX choices and accessibility would make it even stronger—great start!