One thing I really like about Mozilla is that our open source philosophy extends to more than just code. For example, our rather untraditional logo usage policy allows anyone to essentially do whatever they want with the Firefox logo as long as they follow a few basic rules and don’t personally profit from it. The result has been some pretty amazing community-powered stuff over the years.

Thanks in large part to these efforts, the Firefox logo has become one of the most widely recognized and iconic images in the tech world, so it’s very important that we continue take good care of it. One way to do this is to a establish a clear set of guidelines that explain what the appropriate uses of the logo are (and aren’t). Although we already have a basic framework in place, one of my upcoming projects will be to create a Firefox style guide that’s more useful to community members, MoCo employees, partners and anyone else who might need it.

I’m currently envisioning this guide as a microsite that contains details about logo usage, do’s and don’ts and suggested copy tone, among other things. The idea is to codify and communicate our existing guidelines as clearly as possible rather than imposing a bunch of new ones on people.

What I absolutely don’t want to do is create anything that resembles a classic corporate style guide, where some guy in the central office hands down a set of rules that everyone has to follow (and be restricted by)…that would be wrong for many reasons. So, to do this in the most Mozillaish way possible I’m looking for some community members to help with its development.

My goal is to assemble a small advisory panel to provide counsel throughout the process. I don’t think it will be a huge amount of work…just a matter of sharing your ideas and opinions every now and then. Some experience with design and/or branding is definitely preferred, but not required. I’m looking for a diverse set of backgrounds, so if you’re interested tell me about yourself in a quick email (jslater at mozilla dot com) and we’ll see where things go from there.

Thanks!