Mozilla Firefox: Users and Branding, part 2
March 9, 2009 by Ellen Ewart
Filed under Marketing
Yesterday, in Part 1, we looked at Firefox’s main logo.
Mozilla is now working on building its visual design community by launching the Mozilla Creative Collective where designers can post work and get feedback from peers . So, rather than keeping the logo creation process private and then unveiling the new design to the world, John Slater, Creative Director at Mozilla, asks the readers of his blog for feedback and direction:
We also need a logo. Not just any logo, either: we need something that can serve as a rallying point for the entire project and will inspire designers around the world to lend their talents to the cause.
What better reason to rally around something than the fact that you had a say in its creation! You can check out the 9 possible logos here.
Moreover, Firefox can potentially avoid any backlash about an unsuccessful logo by bringing the users in at an early stage. Steven Garrity (formerly the lead of the Mozilla Visual Identity Team), on his blog Acts of Volition, described the culture of open source quite nicely:
In open source software development, the usual reply to any requests, suggestions, or criticisms is the classic refrain: “Where’s the patch!?” This reply is a (sometimes) polite way of saying, if you don’t like it, fix it. That’s how open source software development works. Therein lies its beauty.
Though Firefox users won’t have the freedom of manipulating the logo once chosen, at least they have a great sense of ownership over a new project that stems from a brand already dear to their hearts.
And so I ask, when is it alright for marketers to place their beloved logos in the hands of the user, if ever?
Since its creation, Mozilla has been using a marketing tactic they call Spread Firefox. In 2008, Firefox challenged its users by launching a t-shirt design competition to spread the word about Firefox. Check out the best of over 2000 entries here. Then ask yourself, can all of this hard work and care show toward a known brand be negative in any way? Even it means multiple interpretations of a brand and alteration of a logo?
Nice post…thanks for the writeup! To add to what you already wrote, our philosophy is that we don’t want to put too many restrictions on people’s creativity regarding the use of our logo (as long as they follow the proper use guidelines you mentioned in the previous post).
In other words, we try to put our logo in the hands of the user as often as possible – the results are usually impressive (2000+ entries in last year’s t-shirt contest), and it inspires the passionate community participation that helps level the playing field between us and our much larger competitors.
Also, to correct one reference in your earlier post, Mozilla was actually founded in 1998 (not 2002).
Thanks!
John