Mozilla has finally unwrapped its new branding, describing the first refresh to its logo in over a decade as not merely ‘a facelift’ but an effort to lay foundations for the company’s next 25 years.
If you read this blog regularly — thank you! — you know what the Mozilla’s new branding looks like because I first reported on it back in August.
And then again in October when a reader tipped me to the design agency Mozilla had contracted to undertake the work and I shared some of the cool animated mascot art created for it.
Personally, I love the new branding. Bringing back the iconic Mozilla mascot in pixel form, and making it also resemble a flag — a riff on Mozilla’s ‘activist spirit’ and mission to ‘reclaim the internet’ — is clever and in keeping with how I view the company.
Yet… You’re not convinced, are you?
Both times I’ve covered Mozilla’s new word-mark and glyph on here, and shared those posts on the OMG! social media accounts, the general reaction has been… Well, “meh” at best, “urgh” at worst, and a fair bit of “but why” spread between.
But now that Mozilla is finally talking about its rebrand publicly — although it’s been an open secret for months — we’re getting a few answers about why a refresh was needed at all.
Mozilla Rebrand – Why?
Mozilla president, Mark Surman, explains the need for a rebrand in a lengthy blog post (which anyone with a moderate marketing buzzword allergy should swerve), writing:
“Since open-sourcing our browser code over 25 years ago, Mozilla’s mission has been the same – build and support technology in the public interest, and spark more innovation, more competition and more choice online along the way.”
“Even though we’ve been at the forefront of privacy and open source, people weren’t getting the full picture of what we do. We were missing opportunities to connect with both new and existing users. This rebrand isn’t just a facelift — we’re laying the foundation for the next 25 years.”
Hence a rebrand – a chance for it to set out its stall and remind people of what it does.
Amy Bebbington, the global head of brand at Mozilla, says the new branding “tells a cohesive story that supports Mozilla’s mission,” noting it “intentionally designed a system […] that ensures the brand resonates with our breadth of audiences”.
“It speaks to grassroots coders developing tools to empower users, government officials advocating for better internet safety laws, and everyday consumers looking to reclaim control of their digital lives.”
Chipping in, the (wonderfully named) Lindsey Lionheart O’Brien, chief marketing officer of Mozilla, says the new logo “empowers people to speak up, come together and build a happier, healthier internet — one where we can all shape how our lives, online and off, unfold.”
But there could be a deeper reason for a visual reset.
Reclaim the internet? Reclaim Mozilla!
It’s a quote from the 3rd-party creative agency, JKR, who were tasked (and presumably paid) by Mozilla to undertake the rebrand which distils Mozilla’s ethos with the best clarity in my opinion:
Mozilla isn’t your typical tech brand; it’s a trailblazing, activist organization in both its mission and its approach. The new brand presence captures this uniqueness, reflecting Mozilla’s refreshed strategy to ‘‘’reclaim the internet.'”
Lisa Smith, global executive creative director at JKR
Now, the snark in me sorely wants to quip that the opening sentence in that quote was written in the wrong tense.
Cos boy: it’s been a long time since Mozilla felt genuinely trailblazing in any sense. And though its activism continues, it feels less prickly while there’s an elephant holding a pen and a search deal contract in the room with it.
But Mozilla is not a typical tech brand, that is true.
The growing disquiet over Mozilla of late — due to paid features no-one wants, excessive CEO pay, lack of innovation in Firefox — may stem from the corp side trying to make Mozilla a typical tech brand.
Yet we mustn’t lose sight that Mozilla is a bulwark against homogeny, consolidation, and overreach by tech giants.
Flaws in Firefox and managerial missteps shouldn’t let us to lose sight of that advocacy: an open, accessible, and fair web depends on it.
“And what’s that Joey Sneddon Hot Take® got to with the rebrand?”, you ask.
Well, my hope is that these new symbols — whether they appeal to you or not — are symbolic of a deeper reset at the company.
We need both sides of Mozilla in step, moving together, so it can focus on what it does best, for the benefit of all of us.
If it can’t, the revived dinosaur mascot want to keep its eyes skyward incase of asteroids…