Comments on: Evolving a Product Brand

By: Brian Masinick

Brian Masinick — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:26:07 +0000

Alex, my thoughts are to always be looking for new, creative, and innovative ways to do things, but any time you evolve a major project, in my opinion, it is always best to provide mechanisms to allow consumers to migrate to the new mechanisms at their own pace, and even stay with an “old way” for extended periods of time. Sometimes the “new ways” end up being improvements, but not everything new is necessarily good. Sometimes we have to scrap ten “new” ideas before we find a new idea that really IS good, and that may come after looking at ten ideas during each of those iterations! Many famous inventors have failed tens of times, but persisted until they found just the right formula, just the right invention.
In that spirit, though the Mozilla organization has had some really good technologies, it has had some nasty flops along the road. These nasty flops should not be hidden, they should be learned from.
As Firefox explores what the next generation of technology should be, I think that new things should be tried, but people should not be afraid to shift gears or even change directions. A few more prototype projects would be handy to explore and chart new ground. I think that all of you are doing a great job; continue what you are doing, but do consider these words. I wish everyone the very best; I try to test the technologies as often as possible myself.

By: nitos

nitos — Sun, 17 May 2009 14:54:50 +0000

I love the idea of something new!

By: Mark Gosdin

Mark Gosdin — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:43:12 +0000

I’ve seen the Prelim and it looks outstanding.

One question, why is the Globe not recognizably Earth? I’m in North America, but to be honest I don’t care if it shows Europe, Asia, Africa, Austrailia or Antartica for that matter – just not the Pacific ocean please.

Still, it says Firefox with refinements. A very good start.

By: Helge

Helge — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:05:03 +0000

Is 3.5 the right time for a change of the icon? It makes me think of the two car manufacturers of my country.

Both Volvo and Saab have totally replaced the bodywork of a model series, without changing the model name, and changed name without changing the body of the car. This happened when Volvo 850 became V70/S70, and later totally remade the car; and when Saab 900 became 9-3, again to be replaced with a different car with the same name some years later.

By: Stephen DesRoches

Stephen DesRoches — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:12:11 +0000

…but how many people wear IE t-shirts?

By: Sebastiaan de With

Sebastiaan de With — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:10:14 +0000

I must say I am all ears. Jon Hicks did a great job on the original Firefox icon.

As you mention, it’s not worth being stuck in time for the sake of keeping t-shirts fresh (exaggerated example). I think Firefox’s brand identity, too, should follow a natural evolution.

I’ll keep an eye on the blog, Alex