Firefox: Evolution of a Brand

Firefox has a new look to support our evolving product line. Today we’re introducing the Firefox parent brand — an icon representing the entire family of products. When you see it, it’s your invitation to join Firefox and gain access to everything we have to offer. That includes the famous Firefox Browser icon for desktop and mobile, but even that is evolving.

I came into the brand redesign
about eight or nine months in.

And in some ways I kind of wondered like

when will we know when it's done.

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Anytime you touch a really
beloved brand like Firefox

you have to go very carefully.

[MUSIC]

Our logo had always been this Fox

flying through the air
surrounding the globe going fast.

And we have [BLEEP] a ton of
brand equity in that Firefox logo.

About 250 million people around
the world use Firefox every month.

And thousands more contribute
to the Firefox project.

As a result they have
a lot of passion for the Fox.

It feels like a member
of the family to them.

Like it's been their entry point
to the Internet for 15 years.

You don't want to mess that up.

But that Fox could not stretch to cover

all of the different
products and services

that we're gonna be
bringing out to the world.

Firefox is more than a browser.

It's actually a whole family
of products and services.

All focused on privacy,
all connected together.

Rebrands are about
creating a new language.

And if you don't have
enough consonants or vowels,

it comes very problematic.

[MUSIC]

Because we’ve come from open source roots

we believe deeply in
participation and transparency.

Traditionally when you do brand design

it's kind of behind closed doors

It's not the way we do it at all.

We kicked off to three
different design teams

in three different creative directions

'Fire'

'Fox'

and 'Free'

What the hell else
could you come up with?

The three teams totally
got into each other's stuff.

They're all really talented
creators and designers.

So they were giving each other feedback
and it really pushed the work forward.

When we started to post
about this on our open design blog,

some of the feedback we got was fear.

I guess I'm not the only one here but

don't change what is good
and what is brand recognition.

Just let the fox be the fox!

Ugly and incomprehensible.

You should deal with more important
things than trying to spoil the icons.

Pardon my French. but it looks
like rainbow vomit.

Oookay

I've never seen French rainbow vomited.

Or French vomit

Have I seen French vomited?

We got that full gamut
of commentary on the blog.

And our posture in receiving that
was to be grateful.

What that gave us a great opportunity
to do was to start a conversation

that we're not changing
but we're evolving.

Really the reason for doing that
is to make sure

that we have as much impact
in the world as possible.

A really interesting thing
emerged from the feedback

that we had not expected at all.

One of the directions.

Look the heck of a lot like
another logo out in the world

that was pretty close to our space.

All of our three design teams, no one
internally had actually noticed that.

It's something you really
just don't want to have happen.

We had reached the point where we had
these two different brand systems.

There was a lot of love for both of them.

But we got a very clear signal

that we didn't actually have to show a fox
for people to know that it was Firefox.

That shape that motion of swirling
around the globe is the thing

that actually fits in people's minds
when they think of Firefox.

I love the colors!

Our color palette went
to being almost a rainbow

as the world changes
around us as we change.

We need to be able to use the same
components of design to make new things

that will meet people
where they are in that moment.

You can see a whole universe
of opportunities.

Our current browser logo is
going to continue to evolve.

We're bringing in the new colors and
making it a little bit more abstract

so that it fits visually
with everything else.

There's a heavy YEAH
about it when you see it.

I think the world needs
more of that right now.

I wish I could say that we're done.

But we're actually not done.

That's a good thing!

Brand should never be done.
They should be alive.

Through everything we've gone
through with this brand redesign,

we're still on your side.

We want you with us.

And we think by working together

we can expand Firefox in its mission
throughout the world.