As Chris Blizzard blogged about a few months ago, we’re in the process of creating the Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) to help unify a diverse, global developer community and give them a strong identity within the ever-growing Mozilla universe. The MDN will serve key developer segments including those working on the Web, Add-ons, Mobile and Applications. With early feedback and an initial roadmap, the Mozilla developer marketing team has been busy executing on a number of projects to help make the MDN a reality in 2010.
We have made a lot of progress this year with the redesigned Hacks blog and web developer outreach, but we haven’t spent a lot of time discussing what the MDN will look like in terms of structure or brand. We know it may take a while to figure out the right structure for our developer communities, but we can definitely make a huge impact early on by defining and developing the MDN brand. Since MDN will serve as the official Mozilla “developer brand”, creating a strong identity is an important step in establishing the new name and concept within the Mozilla community. That is why we have kicked off the logo design process with Studio Number One (SNO) and plan to share the concepts with you soon. If you’re interested in learning more about the process, check out the MDN logo design brief we provided SNO to start things off.
For those not familiar with the origins of the Mozilla dino logo, it was created in 1998 by Shepard Fairey and his BLK/MRKT design firm. Most people know him for his more recent Obama “HOPE” poster, but the Mozilla community has been familiar with his work for years.
Fairey made a huge impact in the early days of the Mozilla project and his work is evident in the original Mozilla website design, many mozilla.org t-shirts, the Mozilla “hack” brand (which we borrowed for the Hacks web developer blog) and of course the Mozilla dino that lives on as the symbol for Mozilla today. I am very excited that we are working with his current design firm SNO to create a new identify for the MDN.
We will have a set of MDN logo concepts later this week and I will blog more about them so that everyone has a chance to share their thoughts. The Mozilla developer marketing team has given the SNO team three unique design directions to explore after our initial round of brainstorming and I can’t wait to see what they come up.
The MDN logo design project will be followed by a complete redesign of the developer.mozilla.org website in preparation for rebranding the site from MDC to MDN. While we may be changing the look and feel of the website, the awesome documentation we currently have available on MDC isn’t going anywhere. All the great developer notes, tutorials and web reference pages will be accessible from the /docs section of the MDN website. The community will have a chance to provide their feedback during the MDN website design project as well, so stay tuned.
For more information about our MDN plans, you can track the various projects and programs on our wiki: https://wiki.mozilla.org/MDN
[...] story of Jon Hicks and our Freddie logo, you’ll love the story and technical details behind Mozilla’s dino logo. There’s even a creative brief posted there, for all you Brand New snobs. And in case you [...]
I will use this opportunity to congratulate and thank all of the Mozilla group for having created an excellent browser.
This being said, I would like to add a word of caution for your next development stage. Do not make the error of going too fancy (Think Toyota) You need to appeal to all users, including the more conservative business and senior sections or you may jam yourself exclusively into a geek niche.
What I feel is badly needed at this point in a readily identifiable “contact us” section in case of trouble. You have partly addressed it with your – for hire – volunteers and they do a very good job. I especially like the brief intro on their background, it helps to select the tech support relevant to the problem. Just streamline it and make it easier to find, not every user is an Internet high-flyer.
Best wishes for your next move
I will check out the archives pages. Thanks for letting me know.
Mozilla Developer Idea is a really good Idea and I think It is a very good opportunity for me like programming freaks.Definitely MDN Logo should be outstanding.
Very neat picture. And I was actually looking over the history of browesers the other day… made me wonder whatever happend to netscape… just feel off the face of the earth.
Where can I get a Mozilla poster?
I love Shepard’s work. Those posters are amazing.
Very well said. Technologies are without a doubt invented like mad. There is really a race among all corporations. to invent some thing which has not been in marketplace by other businesses. Take example of mobile phones, I am really affectionate towards of new mobile gadgets, mobile wallpapers and ring-tones. I’m often seeking for new or exciting functions in mobile phones. But, I locate some new or extra ordinary functions in all of them.
But even with developers using Firefox for development there hasn’t been an easy way for those of us at the Mozilla project to let you know about what’s going on at Mozilla – what we’re putting in Firefox, what we’re doing to bring the web forward and what we’re doing for web developers. (Although the hacks weblog is the first attempt at that.) And conversely there isn’t an obvious way for individual web developers to give Mozilla structured feedback about what’s important to them or what issues they might be having.
MDN should be a huge asset to Mozilla universe. I’ve been using Firefox for a number of years now and find it to be a great browser. Thanks.
Firefox is indeed one of the best browsers out there, much quicker than IE for sure!
MDN is critical for firefox’s survival, in my opinion, and why IE will suffer in the end.
I use firefox all the time and I think it is the best browser. It has so many plugins none of the other can compete.
I agree with Maqui that Firefox is the best browser until now. I’ve been using it since Sept 2005. I really appreciate the good works of MDN Team.
I use Firefox fairly often but I have to admit that its mostly when testing sites and not so much for general surfing. Now with so many people using Ipads would be interesting to see the browser break down here.
I love Mozilla all the time. The simply powerful!
I’ve tried the rest, but Firefox is still the best browser so far…
Since Firefox is built by thousands of well respected programmers, and experts in the field, it’s the most powerful browser even compared with the “others” built by large corporation.
Go Mozilla! Keep up the good work!
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I’d need to check with you here. Which just isn’t something I generally do! I delight in reading a post that may make persons think. Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!
Interesting… I think Chrome has market share now and you hear very little about Firefox… I would still rank Firebox above Internet Explorer though, I just can’t stand IE!
I love Mozilla all the time. The simply powerful!Go Mozilla! Keep up the good work!
Mozilla is powerfull software!
I love mozila, simple and fast
I love Mozilla all the time. The simply powerful!Go Mozilla! Keep up the good work! keren abizz
I love Mozilla all the time. The simply powerful!Go Mozilla!
Since Firefox is built by thousands of well respected programmers, and experts in the field, it’s the most powerful browser even compared with the “others” built by large corporation.
Wow! Its amazing!
Interesting… i feel Chrome has market share currently and you hear little or no concerning Firefox… i’d still rank furnace on top of web human tho’, I simply can’t stand IE!
I use mozilla almost 8 years. And I prefer to use mozill because it is faster and very simple