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Mozilla Is Changing Its Look -- and Asking the Internet For Feedback (arstechnica.com)
Megan Geuss, writing for ArsTechnica: Mozilla is trying a rebranding. Back in June, the browser developer announced that it would freshen up its logo and enlist the Internet's help in reaching a final decision. The company hired British design company Johnson Banks to come up with seven new "concepts" to illustrate the company's work. The logos rely on vibrant colors, and several of them recall '80s and '90s style. In pure, nearly-unintelligible marketing speak, Mozilla writes that each new design reflects a story about the company. "From paying homage to our paleotechnic origins to rendering us as part of an ever-expanding digital ecosystem, from highlighting our global community ethos to giving us a lift from the quotidian elevator open button, the concepts express ideas about Mozilla in clever and unexpected ways," Mozilla's Creative Director Tim Murray writes in a blog post. Mozilla is soliciting comment and criticism on the seven new designs for the next two weeks, but this is no Boaty McBoatface situation. Mozilla is clear that it's not crowdsourcing a design, asking anyone to work on spec, or holding a vote over which logo the Internet prefers. It's just asking for comments.
They are trying to polish a turd. Logos don't mean anything, this isn't sugar water. They better fix their core.
How about you just build a freaking browser?
It takes the style from the window manager, has an address bar and buttons that you deem fit. It is a stupid browers, not a design project where you can compensate you did not go to art school. Big browsing window. Small frame as the window manager offers. Thankyouverymuch.
You ignored al feedback so far, why ask now, just to ignore us again?
So many other more important things they could be doing with their product. I've been frustrated with Chrome's greed lately and would love an alternative. They have an opportunity, but instead are making logos.
As far as "look", I want to see the non-content part take up less vertical space. It's fine on a 1920X1200 screen, but on smaller screens I have to rock the page up and down to use it effectively. Find a way to offer browser features without taking up space at the top of the frame.
As far as function, I'd like the browser to not consume the entire four cores, please. When I'm doing something else (example, Lightroom) and the response is extremely sluggish, Task Manager will show Firefox consuming most of my memory and nearly pegging all CPUs, reminding me yet again that I forgot to dismiss Firefox before doing, well, pretty much anything else. It's just a browser, for chrissake. Just sitting there it shouldn't take up that much in resources.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
They don't need to ask the internet. The internet will let them know regardless.
I took a look and I can't believe companies still waste thousands of dollars on "concepts" logos like this. All but one gave me nausea so much they looked bad/dated(especially no2) and the only one that didn't isn't worth the thousands of dollars they surely paid for it, because, let's face it, we could all have come up with it (Mozi//a) Stick with your current one, none of those are better IMO
I miss 3.6 and Mozilla that wasn't overrun with this crap.
Mozilla's problem is not with its logo. How much lower does the Firefox marketshare have to drop before someone at Mozilla gets a clue?
Ok, there is only 1 that doesn't look atrocious, the "Moz://a". The rest look like what I would expect from what grade schoolers class assignment.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
In the music industry, when a band runs out of ideas, "Greatest Hits" album is released.
In the software industry, when you run out of ideas, you just change the look of your product.
Here is an idea for you: design your product so that it fucking stays on the content the user is looking at, rather than jumping all over the fucking place when graphics/ads load!! If more content needs to come on, simply grow it above or below the content in the window itself, without moving the displayed content.
Work on THAT for a while. Leave the look alone.
Rebranding and image polishing are undertaken only when a company knows that things aren't going too well for them. Many Firefox users would probably agree with that, at least the technical users know it all too clearly.
However, the problems are not caused by the brand being unsavoury or the image tarnished. The brand and image are fine. Where problems have appeared it is because Mozilla developers have been forcing unwanted change on their users, forcing them continually to find remedial fixes to preserve friendly and productive old functionality. Browsers are not kettles, people don't want a completely different look each year.
The fact that Mozilla is now undertaking brand and image refurbishment clearly indicates the nature of the problem. The immense and unbridled ego of Firefox developers has put them in complete denial that Mozilla's problems are caused by them and them alone, and that has left their management with only one alternative, to play with branding and image.
It will achieve nothing of substance.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
Leave Thunderbird alone! It does everything I want it to and nothing I don't. I heavily use extensions whose developers haven't touched it for 5+ years, and I don't want them to break for some features I won't use.
It's still getting security updates, just leave it at that.
1. Too much time on his hands
2. Needing to justify his position at the company
I mean, for the average person, what does a "rebranding" actually do?
NOTHING
These great marketing dollars thrown about to come up with a new logo, or new colors, etc..means exactly nothing to the consumer. The consumer isn't going to be dazzled and really get on board with it this time!!
It isn't going to entice anyone that was not he fence about using the product to jump onto the bandwagon.
If anything, like mentioned before, you might lose some customers if the change is too radical and people not following the every marketing move of the company, might lose track of your product.
This, IMHO, isn't just for this Mozilla revamp, but for 99% of companies out there too. These exercises are a waste of money and time....and for what to be gained?
Nobody gives a shit about company mottos, except the poets at the marketing companies.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
1. Stop firing people for bullshit offenses to Social Justice Warrior sensibilities.
2. When you automatically restore multiple windows after crashes, load the freaking close button controls before anything else.
Oblig
They can have this one for free. I am not a designer, I spent 5 mins on this and it's shite - still better IMHO than any of the guff they came up with.
http://imgur.com/a/70ReP
It sounds to me like some executive somewhere there, has either:
1. Too much time on her hands
2. Needing to justify her position at the company
Considering what SJWs Mozilla has become I just had to fix that for you.
Mozilla has been offering free software. Changing its look and feel could be disastrous because it can give the impression that it is something other than what we knew and loved for decades.
Google only tweaked its font a bit.
Microsoft just took the curves out of its logo.
Apple had removed the colors.
Mostly all the changes to the branding for these companies were a simplified version what they had. They didn't get Artistic and fancy. Just flat and dull, but reminiscent of the old logo.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Instead of wasting time with a crappy new logos (that no one asked for) how about fixing your products instead so they don't suck ?
You know, based on technical merits, like you did back in the FF 2.x and 3.x days.
/sarcasm Because I'm sure a new logo will solve all your problems.
The Moz://a one is the only one that's remotely clever and interesting, and yet... the protocol prefix, including the ://, was one of the things they got rid of (by default) in an earlier update.
So, irony.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.