Islands Theme: The New Look Coming to JetBrains IDEs

Olga Berdnikova

Starting with version 2025.2.3, JetBrains IDEs will offer a new look: the Islands theme, available in both dark and light modes. This update is a visual refresh, which means that all functionality will remain the same. The new theme can be turned on or off in the Appearance settings.

This step brings us closer to our goal of making the Islands theme the default in the future, and on this mission, we’re taking an iterative and feedback-driven approach. We’re making small, focused improvements and sharing them early, with your feedback guiding our next steps.

With this update to the UI, we want to:

• Provide a fresh, modern look that keeps pace with design trends.
• Refine the previous UI update, implementing a clearer separation between the editor and tool windows, more prominent navigation, and better tab visibility.
• Ensure consistency across JetBrains products, aligning JetBrains IDEs and the Toolbox App.

Landing on the Islands theme

During the 2025.2 EAP, we tested two design directions, and based on your feedback, we decided to move forward with what is now the Islands theme. 

To guide our decision, we combined results from mockup-based surveys, in-product A/B tests, user interviews, and usage statistics. This mix of qualitative and quantitative research helped us understand how each option worked in practice.

In the surveys and interviews, participants described the Islands theme as modern, clear, and easy to navigate, with better visual separation between the editor and tool windows. Many also appreciated the improved visibility of tabs and navigation elements. Overall, users were enthusiastic and ready to adopt the Islands theme as the default.

Here are some examples of the feedback we received:

• It looks and feels modern and clean, helping me focus on my work.
• Feels refreshing but it made way more obvious differentiating each section on the IDE. 
• It has a fresh feel, the dark theme colors give a good contrast and it is easy to look at for a number of hours.

Your feedback also identified lots of things we can still improve on, and we’ll be working on them for the future releases.

We’re grateful to everyone who tried both new themes in those early stages and shared feedback. All of your responses, both supportive and critical, helped us make a more confident and informed decision.

Please share your feedback

The Islands theme is now available for everyone to try. If you enable it, you’ll get a survey invitation two days later. Please take a moment to share your thoughts. Your feedback makes a huge difference in our work to refine the design further.

As a thank-you, survey participants will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win either an Amazon Gift Card or a 1-year All Products Pack subscription.

Known issues

The Islands theme is in Beta, and we are still polishing some details and working to address known issues. Please vote and comment on the tickets that are most important to you, or submit a new issue if you notice something that isn’t on our radar.

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