Mozilla Rebrands To ‘Help People Understand’ Its Open Web Mission

Logo changes are rarely news, but Mozilla’s brand change is a little bit different. As the developer of the Firefox web browser and the guardian of several other open web projects, its motive is not to make more money, but to continue its mission.

So when it told Silicon it was changing its brand, we listened. Most people will be familiar with the Firefox logo, but fewer will know the Mozilla dinosaur icon. To be honest, a dinosaur is a bit of a contradiction to Mozilla’s stated mission of accelerating the future.

“At the core of this project is the need for Mozilla’s purpose and brand to be better understood by more people,” said Tim Murray, head of Mozilla’s creative team. “We want to be known as the champions for a healthy Internet.

Mozilla rebrand

“An Internet where we are all free to explore and discover and create and innovate without barriers or limitations. Where power is in the hands of many, not held by few. An Internet where our safety, security and identity are respected.”

The new ‘brand’ includes the ‘language of the internet’ in an open font that can be downloaded by anyone. Translated it means that the logo is ‘Moz://a’ rather than ‘Mozilla’.

The non-profit organisation wants designers to come up with their own creations using the open brand, claiming its mission can not be represented by a single, static icon.

“As we looked at the elements of our brand identity, the concept of one image or icon standing for the whole of Mozilla, and the entirety of the Internet, seemed anachronistic,” explained Murray. “Since imagery is an important reflection of the diversity and richness of the Internet, however, we’ve made it an important component of our system.”

One of Mozilla’s main focuses in 2016 was improving user privacy and what net neutrality means for the web. It is trialling native ad blocking tools and has also released a browser specifically for iOS that blocks ads and tracking. It clearly hopes a more powerful brand message will help it achieve its goals.

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