The

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curr ...

logo depicts an orange

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

partially surrounding and overlooking a

globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

. While the initial design of the logo depicted a phoenix, it was changed to depict a fox after the name of the

web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

was changed from Phoenix to Firefox. This logo was updated three times: in 2009, in 2013, and in 2017. Over the course of these redesigns, the logo transitioned to a more flat and textureless version. In 2018, Firefox's developer

Mozilla Mozilla is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, publishes and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting free software and open standards. The community is supported institution ...

announced their intention to redesign the logo to accompany a series of logos, each representing a different product under the Firefox brand. After gathering feedback, the two proposed sets of logos were developed into a singular set, which was implemented in October 2019. The new set of logos also introduced a unifying logo to represent the brand as a whole, which was widely mistaken for the logo of the browser itself. Several variations of Firefox have differing logos, such as Firefox Nightly, whose logo featured the globe from the base Firefox logo. In November 2017, however, its logo was switched to an alternate

color scheme In color theory, a color scheme is a combination of 2 or more colors used in aesthetic or practical design. Aesthetic color schemes are used to create style and appeal. Colors that create a harmonious feeling when viewed together are often u ...

of the base Firefox logo, changing the fox from red-orange to blue-purple, and darkening the globe.

History

Early history (2004–2017)

Firefox 0.8– Firefox 69)"> File:Mozilla Firefox 0.8 logo.svg, The first logo for the

web browser, featuring an orange

overlooking a

File:Mozilla Firefox logo 2004.svg, The logo for the first post-release version of Firefox in 2004, featuring lighter colors than the previous version File:Mozilla Firefox logo 2009.png, The 2009 redesign of the Firefox logo, altering the shape of the

continents A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of As ...

on the globe File:Mozilla Firefox logo 2013.svg, The Firefox logo introduced in June 2013, featuring more simplistic textures than previous incarnations File:Firefox logo, 2017.svg, The November 2017 redesign of the Firefox logo, featuring a more "flat" design for the fox and a textureless globe Mozilla Phoenix logo vector

The initial concept for the

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

depicted a phoenix rather than a

, in line with the browser's name during early development, when it was known as Phoenix and Firebird rather than Firefox. After the name of the browser was decided to be Firefox, a team of 10 to 15

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

s within

began working on its logo. The first logo for the Firefox web browser came alongside the browser's first release in 2004, designed by

John Hicks Sir John Richard Hicks (8 April 1904 – 20 May 1989) was a British economist. He is considered one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century. The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economics ...

. Mozilla revealed a new Firefox logo in June 2013, featuring less detailed textures than previous incarnations on both the globe and the fox. The Firefox logo was also redesigned in November 2017, as a part of an effort to combat Firefox's waning market share in the web browser market.

Transition to overarching identity and simplicity (2018–present)

In 2018, Mozilla began an internal design project that aimed to create a new Firefox brand. The project consisted of three teams, each with a separate design theme, being "fire", "fox", and "free". That July, Mozilla revealed proposals to create a new series of logos for Firefox, saying that "as an icon, that fast fox with a flaming tail doesn't offer enough design tools to represent this entire product family",⁣ and that they intended to design the family of logos with a blank slate, rather than tweaking previous designs. The proposals consisted of two "design systems", each with both a series of logos for individual Firefox products, and a singular logo to represent the brand as a whole. The brand logo in the first design system was a stylized, geometric fox head, while the brand logo in the second design system was a simplistic, circular flame. On June 11, 2019, a new logo for the web browser was announced. The 2019 logo was more simple and stylized compared to the previous logos, and was closer in appearance to the first design system presented in 2018, though the system of logos as a whole was closer to the second system. In the 2019 redesign, the globe was changed from blue to purple, and the design of the fox was further simplified, with its legs being removed completely. Additionally, the browser logo aimed to become more abstract in order to make the logo "fit visually with everything else" in the Firefox brand. The brand logo depicts a swirl of fire inspired by the circular motion of the spinning browser icon, as during the development, the team "got a very clear signal that we didn't actually have to show a fox for people to know that it was Firefox". Alongside the redesigned browser logo and brand logo, logos were introduced for

Firefox Send Firefox Send was a free and open-source end-to-end encrypted file sharing web service developed by Mozilla. It was operational from August 1, 2017 until July 7, 2020. Functionality Firefox Send allowed users to upload computer files, including ...

Firefox Monitor Mozilla Monitor, formerly known as Firefox Monitor, is an online data removal service developed by Mozilla, announced in June 2018, and launched on September 25 of that year. Operation Mozilla Monitor informs users if their email address and ...

, and

Firefox Lockwise Firefox Lockwise is a deprecated password manager for the Firefox web browser, as well as the mobile operating systems iOS and Android. On desktop, Lockwise was simply part of Firefox, whereas on iOS and Android it was available as a standalone ...

. The logos for Firefox Monitor and Firefox Lockwise were unveiled in May 2019, marking the first of the redesigned Firefox logos to be announced. The new logos for the Firefox brand, the Firefox Browser, Firefox Send, Firefox Monitor, and Firefox Lockwise were implemented in

Firefox 70 Firefox was created by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross as an experimental branch of the Mozilla browser, first released as Firefox 1.0 on November 9, 2004. Starting with version 5.0, a rapid release cycle was put into effect, resulting in a new ...

on October 22, 2019.

Design

The logo for the Firefox web browser depicts a stylized fox. The fox is seen either overlooking a globe (in the logos from 2004 to 2019) or surrounding it (in the 2019 logo).

Variants

File:1329566521 Mozilla Firefox 13 0a1 Nightly 2012 02 15.jpg, The 2012 logo Firefox Nightly, depicting the globe from the base Firefox logos without the fox, and set at night File:Mozilla Firefox Nightly logo 2013.png, The 2013 logo of Firefox Nightly, updated to match the style found in the 2013 redesign of the base Firefox browser's logo File:Firefox Nightly logo, 2017.svg, The 2017 Firefox Nightly logo, which changes the colors of the fox in the base browser's logo from red-orange to purple-blue File:Firefox Nightly logo, 2019.svg, The 2019 redesign of the Firefox Nightly logo, which updated the design of the previous logo to match that of the 2019 Firefox brand redesign Firefox Nightly, an alternative version to Firefox that allows for features to be tested before their public implementation, has a differing logo to the base Firefox web browser. In August 2017, Mozilla introduced a new logo for Firefox Nightly. The logo preceded the November 2017 redesign of the base Firefox logo, introducing the more "flat" and textureless design. It changed the color of the fox from a red-orange to a blue-purple, as well as darkening the planet. In August 2019, Mozilla updated the logo to match that of the 2019 Firefox brand redesign, while keeping the alternative

Reception

Sean Hollister of ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...

'' likened the 2019 redesign to "a world on fire", saying it was something "many of us can easily identify with these days", and saying that he believes the logo will "grow on im. After the 2019 logo change, many mistook the logo for the Firefox family of products as a whole for the logo of the Firefox web browser. In February 2021, several

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

s circulated surrounding the replacement of the fox and globe with an orange swirl in the redesigned logos. However, this was due to confusion between the overarching brand logo and the logo for the web browser itself.

References

{{Mozilla, state=autocollapsed Firefox Mozilla Commercial logos Foxes in popular culture