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Branding Mozilla: Towards Mozilla 2.0
sgarrity writes "I've written some recommendations for the branding and visual identity of the Mozilla Foundation's project and product line. I argue that the Mozilla Project should adopt a simple, strong, consistent visual identity for the Mozilla products including consistent icons across applications that mesh with the host operating system. Read Branding Mozilla: Towards Mozilla 2.0 and let us know what you think."
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
A stack of reasons - mostly relating to adoption within the workplace. As soon as I fire up Mozilla in front of a newbie they comment along the lines of 'playing games huh' or similar.
Im not suggesting the monster gets replaced with some prick with a laptop looking serious while rubbing his chin as his foxy secretary takes notes in their walnut and leather office - but something a little more businessy wouldn't hurt.
Branding gives you things to hang onto. Some people like their jeans more because missy elliot wears then (or says she wears them). I'd like Mozilla more if I didnt look like a dinosaur geek everytime it starts up.
RTFA, Mozilla 2.0 *IS* Firebird 1.0
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." --George Orwell
The real problem with browser branding is that currently people fail to see the browser as something which should be branded. It's a utility product that allows you to view sites, and that's about it. Who cares what's beneath?
By establishing IE as a client-run COM control, Microsoft only further implemented that idea. You can hardly brand something that people view as a tool.
For example, what sports cars do you have in your garage? Ferrari or Porsche I'd assume. And what's the brand of your kitchen sink? Eeeh, who cares, some crap made in China and purchased at Home Depot. The same with the browser - when the sites are more or less the same, and it's the sites you care about, who cares what brand the browser is.
Nader-2004
The problem I have found with Mozilla, is that most people just don't care enough. Personally I use, and love Mozilla. Like you I haven't seen a pop-up in a long time, that I didn't specifically allow. I am also a tyrant when it comes to cookies. I hate them, I see little need for a web site to be able to track me, unless its for user-login or purchasing purposes (and even then, I usually delete the cookie after I am done with the site). So, I have Mozilla ask me whether or not to store a cookie, when a web site attempts to. Most of the time, I will simply check the "Always do this" box and hit Deny.
The problem comes in when my girlfriend sits down at my computer. First off, I had to get her to belive that Mozilla was a web browser, and that IE was not necessary. That out of the way, she hated it. Having to deal with cookies annoyed her, she didn't care and just wanted it to work. She never even tried the tabbed browsing really. About the only thing about it that didn't annoy her was the lack of pop-ups, and even then some of the sites she went to were the kind that used pop-ups in the design of the page, so she didn't even appreciate that feature that much.
Basically, all of this is to say that most people aren't going to switch, no matter how the program is branded. They are used to IE, with all of its security holes. They want a program that just goes when they click on the purple monkey. They are willing to install another program which blocks pop-ups based on the title text, and to train that program. In all, they are afraid of change. And that is what Mozilla needs to overcome, it needs people getting their friends/girlfriends/family to use it and see the advantages. As long as it looks reasonably clean, and functions close to IE, that is enough. And damn well don't go changing the interface between versions, once you have something that works, don't fix it, you'll just scare and alienate people.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Laziness is the father.
Well, I'm a professional graphic designer... so here's my take on this.
Good logos are very very simple. Good logos can be boiled down a strong one or two colored silhouette built with simple lines and shapes. Moreover, good logos are clearly recognizable at both small and large sizes.
The human brain reads and interprets simple shapes very quickly. Furthermore, the brain remembers and recalls simple shapes faster then complex graphics. This is, more or less, a psychological fact.
When you take a glance at a good simple logo it gets stuck in your head. Even if you've only seen it once, and you can't quite pin-point the company associated with it, there's a good chance it will seem "familiar" to you. Familiarity is essential to a good brand. People like to use things they feel familiar with... even if their sense of familiarity is coming from a near subconscious level.
It should also be noted that simple logos are easier to slap on everything. They are easier to print, it's easier to use as decoration, etc etc.
Honestly, Tux is not a very good logo. Most people don't know what that orange and black rendered penguin is all about (trust me, I guarantee you they don't). It's only the geeks like us who know what Tux is. Common people remember the RedHat logo, or the Suse logo... but not tux. If Tux's shape was simplified (kind if like what IBM did with it http://www.humanist.de/erik/rza/ibmlinux.jpg ) it would be much more recognizable to the general public.
And as for Mozilla. Well, Mozilla currently has that lizard head and the "M." Both are fairly simple (think the lizard could be simplified some more though), yet Mozilla.org doesn't stick with them. They don't place these logos all aspects of their products, they keep creating new icons and splash screens, etc. Mozilla.org needs to work on their branding. They need to pick one general logo, and they need to boldly place it everywhere.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
The AT&T logo is a good example of branding. Show the globe part of the logo to people and most of them will know it's AT&T. The same goes for the Coca-Cola "wave" and the Nike check mark. Those are brands.
The most important part of branding is consistency. When I look at the linux penguin I think of Linux. That doesn't happen when I look at other penguins. It's not going to happen for the averge person either and that's the person you want to target. For people to associate Linux with that penguin, they have to see that pengiun image and hear about Linux at the same time, over and over and over again. The same thing needs to happen with Mozilla. There needs to be an official logo and it needs to be used on everything. The average joe needs to be able to look at that logo and think Mozilla.
Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y