i think gnome is actually pretty good... for a desktop with limited duties. like launching a browser and email--perhaps a word processor, and not much else. think a chromebook alternative that could actually do more if you wanted. a lot of things are 'hidden' to the user by default, what a user does need to be able to access (wifi, etc) is relatively easy to find, nice big icons that you can put front-and-center while relegating system-related things to a folder. i've set up a number of systems like that.

for my own uses though, gnome does need a half-dozen extensions for me to consider it 'usable'.. but i would still prefer a 'traditional' desktop experience such as cinnamon