Mozilla Firefox is getting a whole new brand identity, and it’s turning to users for help getting there.
Earlier this week, Madhava Enros, senior director, Firefox user experience, and Tim Murray, creative director, Mozilla, released a joint post addressed to Firefox users, explaining their new approach, and calling for feedback.
According to the post, the Firefox team is working on a system that will “guide people smoothly from our marketing to our in-product experiences.”
Included are examples of ideas, with explanations of how each icon or logo would be applied across the Firefox suite. Icons under consideration are the Firefox master brand logo, general purpose icons, and singular product browser icons.
Two new concepts for emerging technologies were also introduced for review, but it was not immediately clear what new products these icons would be representing.
Customer feedback will be used to aid the creative and design teams as they revise and refine a new brand identity.
According to the post, Firefox’s decision to provide transparency, and ask for feedback, on the design process stems from “the open-source values of transparency and participation.” In a way, Firefox is showing solidarity to brand values, while capitalizing on customer feedback — something Kathleen Hickey, marketing manager, Usabilla, calls a “gold mine for customer experience.”
“Because marketing has become so customer-centric and competitive, companies no longer have the flexibility to wrongfully assume their customers’ needs,” Hickey said. “In making assumptions, businesses risk losing out to competitors.”
Customer feedback can play a variety of roles in refining marketing strategy. In this case, Firefox is tuning in to the voice of the customer to create a visual experience that speaks to user needs and translates in a way that is relatable to audiences. But a similar process can be applied to improve other aspects of the customer journey, from improving net promoter score, retail experiences, to managing marketing communications, and overall product development.
GoDaddy, for example, recently developed a community of valued customers to serve as advisers, giving feedback to help teams as they create new products and refine their brand messaging.
On the retail side, ThirdLove tapped into surveys and feedback to help improve inventory, and, in one case, provide inspiration for representing diverse audiences in an upcoming brand campaign.
“Actively listening to candid, open feedback from customers allows marketers to capture more meaningful insights, transform them into role-specific insights, and make informed improvements to the user and/or customer experience,” Hickey said.
When can we expect to see the new look? According to Firefox, “each individual icon will undergo several rounds of refinement or may change entirely, between now and their respective product launches …Our focus at this point is on the system.”
Firefox users who want to participate can do so by weighing in here.
