diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/components/ProfileLink.react.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/components/ProfileLink.react.js
index 0721ed1040c8f6afa742fdb02fd7f514aec64f96..ba6ef5f82b986bb83719ce6bb704e464febd9c7b 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/components/ProfileLink.react.js
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/components/ProfileLink.react.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import React, { Component, PropTypes } from 'react';
 import OnClickOut from 'react-onclickout';
 import cx from 'classnames';
 
+import UserAvatar from './UserAvatar.react';
 import Icon from './Icon.react';
 
 export default class ProfileLink extends Component {
@@ -22,23 +23,8 @@ export default class ProfileLink extends Component {
         this.setState({ dropdownOpen: false });
     }
 
-    displayInitials() {
-        let initials = '??';
-        const { user } = this.props;
-
-        if (user.first_name !== 'undefined') {
-            initials = user.first_name.substring(0, 1);
-        }
-
-        if (user.last_name !== 'undefined') {
-            initials = initials + user.last_name.substring(0, 1);
-        }
-        return initials;
-    }
-
     render() {
         const { user, context } = this.props;
-
         let dropDownClasses = cx({
             'NavDropdown': true,
             'inline-block': true,
@@ -46,15 +32,14 @@ export default class ProfileLink extends Component {
             'open': this.state.dropdownOpen,
         })
 
+
         return (
             <OnClickOut onClickOut={this.closeDropdown}>
                 <div className={dropDownClasses}>
                     <a className="NavDropdown-button NavItem flex align-center p2" onClick={this.toggleDropdown}>
                         <div className="NavDropdown-button-layer">
                             <div className="flex align-center">
-                                <span className="UserNick">
-                                    <span className="UserInitials NavItem-text">{this.displayInitials()}</span>
-                                </span>
+                                <UserAvatar user={user} style={{backgroundColor: 'transparent'}}/>
                                 <Icon name="chevrondown" className="Dropdown-chevron ml1" width="8px" height="8px" />
                             </div>
                         </div>
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/components/UserAvatar.react.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/components/UserAvatar.react.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..aa7053a5edf586e4f44400f8088060b3cf0033cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/components/UserAvatar.react.js
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+'use strict';
+
+import React, { Component } from 'react';
+import cx from 'classnames';
+
+export default class UserAvatar extends Component {
+    constructor(props) {
+        super(props)
+        this.styles = {
+            fontSize: '0.85rem',
+            borderWidth: '1px',
+            borderStyle: 'solid',
+            borderRadius: '99px',
+            width: '2rem',
+            height: '2rem',
+            display: 'flex',
+            alignItems: 'center',
+            justifyContent: 'center',
+        }
+    }
+    userInitials() {
+        const { first_name, last_name } = this.props.user;
+
+        let initials = '??';
+
+        if (first_name !== 'undefined') {
+            initials = first_name.substring(0, 1);
+        }
+
+        if (last_name !== 'undefined') {
+            initials = initials + last_name.substring(0, 1);
+        }
+
+        return initials;
+    }
+
+    render() {
+        const { background } = this.props;
+        const classes = {
+            'flex': true,
+            'align-center': true,
+        }
+        classes[background] = true;
+
+        return (
+            <div className={cx(classes)} style={Object.assign(this.styles, this.props.style)}>
+                {this.userInitials()}
+            </div>
+        )
+    }
+}
+
+UserAvatar.defaultProps = {
+    background: 'bg-brand',
+}
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/css/admin.css b/resources/frontend_client/app/css/admin.css
index 7e3be1df36c04d0c0a8b390683286e9c7d895515..93669d954caaa2a889148dbe6612ffb9c0cdf20a 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/css/admin.css
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/css/admin.css
@@ -50,17 +50,6 @@
     transition: background .2s linear;
 }
 
-.UserNick {
-    border-width: 1px;
-    border-style: solid;
-    border-radius: 99px;
-    width: 2rem;
-    height: 2rem; /* set an explicit height since we want it to be square */
-    display: flex;
-    align-items: center;
-    justify-content: center;
-}
-
 .AdminNav .UserNick {
     color: #fff;
     border-color: #fff;
@@ -72,13 +61,6 @@
     color: #fff;
 }
 
-.UserInitials,
-.UserInitials:hover {
-    font-size: 0.85rem;
-    color: currentColor;
-    cursor: pointer;
-}
-
 .Actions {
     background-color: rgba(243,243,243,0.46);
     border: 1px solid #E0E0E0;
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/Activity.react.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/Activity.react.js
index 511d8885f2b830c45ee54ed8e7877ea9b6f51cac..57b0bbb3cab1d0dc8ae64b009467951365eec539 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/Activity.react.js
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/Activity.react.js
@@ -141,13 +141,8 @@ export default class Activity extends Component {
         if (user) {
             const userColorIndex = userColors[user.id];
             const colorCssClass = this.colorClasses[userColorIndex];
-            const cssClasses = {
-                'UserNick': true,
-                'text-white': true
-            };
-            cssClasses[colorCssClass] = true;
 
-            return cx(cssClasses);
+            return colorCssClass;
         } else {
             return cx({
                 'UserNick': true,
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/ActivityItem.react.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/ActivityItem.react.js
index e3d97752255e9bce84261fb45b3e07be048e63ba..aa6924ed1301dcc283c16ce6acfa9a55e85b788e 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/ActivityItem.react.js
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/ActivityItem.react.js
@@ -1,52 +1,32 @@
 'use strict';
 
 import React, { Component } from 'react';
-
 import Icon from 'metabase/components/Icon.react';
-
+import IconBorder from '../../query_builder/IconBorder.react';
+import UserAvatar from 'metabase/components/UserAvatar.react';
 
 export default class ActivityItem extends Component {
 
     constructor(props) {
         super(props);
-
-        this.styles = {
-            initials: {
-                borderRadius: '0px',
-            }
-        };
-    }
-
-    userInitials(user) {
-        let initials = '??';
-
-        if (user.first_name !== 'undefined') {
-            initials = user.first_name.substring(0, 1);
-        }
-
-        if (user.last_name !== 'undefined') {
-            initials = initials + user.last_name.substring(0, 1);
-        }
-
-        return initials;
     }
 
     render() {
         const { item, description, userColors } = this.props;
 
         return (
-            <div className="flex align-center">
-                { item.user ?
-                    <span styles={this.styles.initials} className={userColors}>
-                        <span className="UserInitials">{this.userInitials(item.user)}</span>
-                    </span>
-                :
-                    <span styles={this.styles.initials} className={userColors}>
-                        <span className="UserInitials"><Icon name={'return'}></Icon></span>
-                    </span>
-                }
-
-                <div className="ml2 full flex align-center">
+            <div className="ml1 flex align-center">
+                <span>
+                    { item.user ?
+                        <UserAvatar user={item.user} background={userColors} style={{color: '#fff', borderWidth: '0'}}/>
+                    :
+                        <IconBorder style={{color: '#B8C0C8'}}>
+                            <Icon name='sync' width={16} height={16} />
+                        </IconBorder>
+                    }
+                </span>
+
+                <div className="ml2 full flex align-center" style={{fontSize: '1rem'}}>
                     <div className="text-grey-4">
                         <span className="text-dark">{description.userName}</span>
 
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/ActivityStory.react.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/ActivityStory.react.js
index bf3e8a3d639ba2e0df40d2aac9316999d8fbe851..75587aa3f5a6bfd00b0360c4a53e19ce53d679ce 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/ActivityStory.react.js
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/ActivityStory.react.js
@@ -2,16 +2,15 @@
 
 import React, { Component } from 'react';
 
-
 export default class ActivityStory extends Component {
 
     constructor(props) {
         super(props);
 
         this.styles = {
-            modelLink: {
-                borderWidth: "2px"
-            },
+            borderWidth: '2px',
+            fontSize: '1.08rem',
+            borderColor: '#DFE8EA',
         }
     }
 
@@ -23,8 +22,8 @@ export default class ActivityStory extends Component {
         }
 
         return (
-            <div className="ml2 mt1 border-left flex" style={{borderWidth: '3px'}}>
-                <div style={this.styles.modelLink} className="flex full ml4 bordered rounded p2">
+            <div className="mt1 border-left flex" style={{borderWidth: '3px', marginLeft: '22px', borderColor: '#F2F5F6'}}>
+                <div className="flex full ml4 bordered rounded p2" style={this.styles}>
                     { story.bodyLink ?
                         <a className="link" href={story.bodyLink}>{story.body}</a>
                     :
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/CardFilters.react.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/CardFilters.react.js
index 48a5178d1ce8016d872628a42ae4f116613d40c1..20a55e54957fc8eeffaeb9760ca876016042cae0 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/CardFilters.react.js
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/CardFilters.react.js
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ export default class CardFilters extends Component {
                     <Icon className="float-left" name={'filter'} width={36} height={36}></Icon>
                     <div className="h3">Filter saved questions</div>
                 </div>
-                <div className="bordered rounded bg-white">
+                <div className="rounded bg-white" style={{border: '1px solid #E5E5E5'}}>
                     <ul className="cursor-pointer">
                         {databases.map(item =>
                             <li key={item.id} className="border-row-divider">
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/HeaderTabs.react.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/HeaderTabs.react.js
index 251e1c284b37b6e63b1dbf9192a5185b3817e2f7..705fe690c58c1aa73740dfcc5ab9d9a68bf4ff2a 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/HeaderTabs.react.js
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/HeaderTabs.react.js
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ export default class HeaderTabs extends Component {
 
         return (
             <div className="bg-brand text-white">
-                <a className={activityTab} href="/">Activity</a>
+                <a className={activityTab} style={{marginLeft: '10px'}} href="/">Activity</a>
                 <a className={questionsTab} href="/?questions">Saved Questions</a>
             </div>
         );
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/Homepage.react.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/Homepage.react.js
index 2534d81b022167cb78ed07f1c16c133214e0bf36..b154c48aa2a58e20538513734b8f89c3ceb61b50 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/Homepage.react.js
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/Homepage.react.js
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ export default class Homepage extends Component {
         const { selectedTab, user } = this.props;
 
         return (
-            <div>
+            <div className="flex flex-column flex-full">
                 { this.state.onboarding ?
                     <Modal>
                         <NewUserOnboardingModal user={user} closeFn={() => (this.completeOnboarding())}></NewUserOnboardingModal>
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ export default class Homepage extends Component {
                         </div>
                     </div>
                 </div>
-                <div className="relative pl4">
+                <div className="relative felx flex-column flex-full pl4">
                     <div style={this.styles.main}>
                         <div style={this.styles.mainWrapper}>
                             { selectedTab === 'activity' ?
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/RecentViews.react.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/RecentViews.react.js
index ca3d802f3385b6148e9b38834b18fd5b74cd5b80..b5ddfaf81d8aad47c990b8521e61bc150c4f9fb0 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/RecentViews.react.js
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/home/components/RecentViews.react.js
@@ -33,12 +33,12 @@ export default class RecentViews extends Component {
                     <Icon className="float-left" name={'clock'} width={18} height={18}></Icon>
                     <span className="pl1 h3">Recents</span>
                 </div>
-                <div className="bordered rounded bg-white">
+                <div className="rounded bg-white" style={{border: '1px solid #E5E5E5'}}>
                     {recentViews.length > 0 ?
-                        <ul className="px3 py1">
+                        <ul className="px3 py2">
                             {recentViews.map(item =>
-                                <li key={item.id} className="py1">
-                                    <a className="link text-dark ml1" href={Urls.modelToUrl(item.model, item.model_id)}>{item.model_object.name}</a>
+                                <li key={item.id} className="py1 ml1">
+                                    <a className="link text-dark" href={Urls.modelToUrl(item.model, item.model_id)}>{item.model_object.name}</a>
                                 </li>
                             )}
                         </ul>
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/icon_paths.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/icon_paths.js
index 9d9ecdb51542ea97aa748440aa8542e44300c944..c970ec20c7be276e44b49a441d83ad1c761478e6 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/icon_paths.js
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/icon_paths.js
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ export var ICON_PATHS = {
     pie: 'M16.0113299,15.368011 L16.0113299,7.6605591 L16.0113246,7.66055936 C16.1469053,7.65372627 16.283376,7.65026855 16.4206543,7.65026855 C18.4538187,7.65026855 20.309836,8.40872524 21.7212043,9.65813664 L16.0113299,15.368011 Z M16.5768268,16.0595929 L24.4103638,16.0595929 C24.4171966,15.9240175 24.4206543,15.7875468 24.4206543,15.6502686 C24.4206543,13.5849976 23.6380543,11.7025127 22.35323,10.2831897 L16.5768268,16.0595929 Z M24.2956851,17.0665012 L15.0044217,17.0665012 L15.0044217,7.77523777 C11.2616718,8.44383611 8.4206543,11.7152747 8.4206543,15.6502686 C8.4206543,20.0685466 12.0023763,23.6502686 16.4206543,23.6502686 C20.3556481,23.6502686 23.6270867,20.8092511 24.2956851,17.0665012 L24.2956851,17.0665012 Z',
     pinmap: 'M15,16.8999819 L15,21 L16,23 L17,21.0076904 L17,16.8999819 C16.6768901,16.9655697 16.3424658,17 16,17 C15.6575342,17 15.3231099,16.9655697 15,16.8999819 L15,16.8999819 Z M16,16 C18.209139,16 20,14.209139 20,12 C20,9.790861 18.209139,8 16,8 C13.790861,8 12,9.790861 12,12 C12,14.209139 13.790861,16 16,16 Z',
     popular: 'M22.7319639,13.7319639 L16.5643756,19.8995521 L15.4656976,18.8008741 L15.4640332,18.8024814 L15.3719504,18.707127 L15.1500476,18.4852242 L15.1539209,18.4813508 L15.1522861,18.4796579 L15.1522861,18.4796579 L15.1103863,18.52012 L13.4809348,16.8327737 L13.4809348,16.8327737 L7.98163972,22.3320688 L6.56742615,20.9178552 L13.4852814,14 L14.5837075,15.0984261 L14.5851122,15.0970697 L14.6628229,15.1775415 L14.8994949,15.4142136 L14.8953638,15.4183447 L14.8968592,15.4198933 L14.9388754,15.3793187 L16.5684644,17.0668074 L16.5684644,17.0668074 L21.3176359,12.3176359 L19,10 L26,9 L25,16 L22.7319639,13.7319639 Z',
+    sync: 'M16 2 A14 14 0 0 0 2 16 A14 14 0 0 0 16 30 A14 14 0 0 0 26 26 L 23.25 23 A10 10 0 0 1 16 26 A10 10 0 0 1 6 16 A10 10 0 0 1 16 6 A10 10 0 0 1 23.25 9 L19 13 L30 13 L30 2 L26 6 A14 14 0 0 0 16 2',
     return:'M15.3040432,11.8500793 C22.1434689,13.0450349 27.291257,18.2496116 27.291257,24.4890512 C27.291257,25.7084278 27.0946472,26.8882798 26.7272246,28.0064033 L26.7272246,28.0064033 C25.214579,22.4825472 20.8068367,18.2141694 15.3040432,17.0604596 L15.3040432,25.1841972 L4.70874296,14.5888969 L15.3040432,3.99359668 L15.3040432,3.99359668 L15.3040432,11.8500793 Z',
     reference: {
         path: 'M15.9670388,2.91102126 L14.5202438,1.46422626 L14.5202438,13.9807372 C14.5202438,15.0873683 13.6272253,15.9844701 12.5215507,15.9844701 L2.89359,15.9844701 C2.16147687,15.9844701 1.446795,15.6184135 1.446795,14.5376751 L11.0747557,14.5376751 C12.1786034,14.5376751 13.0734488,13.6501624 13.0734488,12.5467556 L13.0734488,0 L2.17890813,0 C0,0 0,0 0,2.17890813 L0,14.5202438 C0,16.6991519 1.81285157,17.4312651 3.62570313,17.4312651 L13.9704736,17.4312651 C15.0731461,17.4312651 15.9670388,16.5448165 15.9670388,15.4275322 L15.9670388,2.91102126 Z',
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/app/query_builder/IconBorder.react.js b/resources/frontend_client/app/query_builder/IconBorder.react.js
index dcf7535fa1e5f46f06c1edffccf7e0614e113399..e90f7e2156ef48b3fdf860b0319a086a17ac5628 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/app/query_builder/IconBorder.react.js
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/app/query_builder/IconBorder.react.js
@@ -1,33 +1,36 @@
 'use strict';
 
+import React, { Component } from 'react';
 import cx from "classnames";
 
-var IconBorder = React.createClass({
-    displayName: 'IconBorder',
-    getDefaultProps: function () {
-          return {
-              borderWidth: '1px',
-              borderStyle: 'solid',
-              borderColor: 'currentcolor',
-              rounded: true
-          }
-    },
-    computeSize: function () {
-        var width = parseInt(this.props.children.props.width, 10);
+export default class IconBorder extends Component {
+    constructor() {
+        super();
+        this.state = {}
+    }
+    componentDidMount() {
+        this.setState({
+            childWidth: React.findDOMNode(this.refs.child).offsetWidth
+        })
+    }
+    computeSize () {
+        let width = parseInt(this.state.childWidth, 10);
         return width * 2;
-    },
-    render: function () {
-        var classes = cx({
+    }
+
+    render() {
+        const classes = cx({
             'flex': true,
             'layout-centered': true
         });
 
-        var styles = {
+        const styles = {
             width: this.computeSize(),
             height: this.computeSize(),
             borderWidth: this.props.borderWidth,
             borderStyle: this.props.borderStyle,
-            borderColor: this.props.borderColor
+            borderColor: this.props.borderColor,
+            lineHeight: '1px', /* HACK this is dumb but it centers the icon in the border */
         }
 
         if (this.props.borderRadius) {
@@ -37,11 +40,17 @@ var IconBorder = React.createClass({
         }
 
         return (
-            <span className={classes + ' ' + this.props.className} style={styles}>
-                {this.props.children}
+            <span className={classes + ' ' + this.props.className} style={Object.assign(styles, this.props.style)}>
+                <span ref="child">{this.props.children}</span>
             </span>
         );
     }
-});
+}
 
-export default IconBorder;
+IconBorder.defaultProps = {
+    borderWidth: '1px',
+    borderStyle: 'solid',
+    borderColor: 'currentcolor',
+    rounded: true,
+    style: {},
+}
diff --git a/resources/frontend_client/index_template.html b/resources/frontend_client/index_template.html
index 6f4b16fb9bb52275f9e37fcad99f5b05c73a67fe..20307cdf2669ab1abd2292243b23bc90ef0feeb9 100644
--- a/resources/frontend_client/index_template.html
+++ b/resources/frontend_client/index_template.html
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@
                         </div>
                     </li>
                     <li class="flex-align-right">
-                        <a class="NavItem bg-white text-brand cursor-pointer p2 no-decoration" href="/q">New Question</a>
-                        <div mb-profile-link class="text-white" user="user" context="nav"></div>
+                        <a class="rounded inline-block bg-white text-brand cursor-pointer p2 no-decoration" href="/q">New Question</a>
+                        <div mb-profile-link class="inline-block text-white" user="user" context="nav"></div>
                     </li>
                 </ul>
             </nav>