Mozilla Creative Collective Logo, Round 1: Your Input Needed!
Work on the Mozilla Creative Collective site is coming along well…Tara, Ryan and I have been working with the team at Airbag Industries to define the scope and figure out a million tiny details. We’ll be moving to wireframes and actual page designs soon, and I’ll be sure to share those when they’re ready.
However, we also need a logo. Not just any logo, either: we need something that can serve as a rallying point for the entire project and will inspire designers around the world to lend their talents to the cause. So, we enlisted the fine folks at Studio Number One, who have done all sorts of awesome work for a variety of interesting clients, to help. (Side note: using Studio Number One also brings us full circle, more or less. The agency was founded by famed artist Shepard Fairey, who created the original Mozilla dino back in 1998.)
To recap, the goal of the Creative Collective is to build up a community of visual designers who’ll spread the word about Firefox and the Mozilla mission around the world via their art (many more details here). We asked Studio Number One to design a logo that embodies the grassroots, “power to the people” spirit of this initiative in a bold, graphic, visually interesting way.
Following in the spirit of other Mozilla design projects ranging from the Mozilla.com redesign to the Ubiquity logo creation, we want to make this process as open and participatory as possible. In other words, we need your help! There are nine initial concepts below, and we need to start focusing on one for further refinement. Which one should that be? What stands out to you and why? Try to envision these on a website, t-shirt, poster, sticker, etc and let us know what you think (by Tuesday, March 10 if at all possible). Any and all feedback is encouraged.
Here are the logos…I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts (and be sure to read the accompanying explanations from Studio Number One below for additional context):
Notes from Studio Number One:
Comp 1: The circular lock-up with the rope surrounding the logo references turn-of-the-century labor union graphics. We like the way this feels alongside the word collective. The mark contained inside the wreath works in a couple of ways: it resembles a person reaching out; it contains the letters cMc, and although this isn’t the order of the letters of the name, hierarchically you see the M first and the C’s upon further inspection; the mark has a similar feel to an infinity symbol or a linking of things together, which is a goal of the collective. The red, black, and white, references a time period when people were working together, and relates back to the existing mozilla dino logo.
Comp 2: Same lock-up as comp 1, minus the stars and utilizing the dino head.
Comp 3: The constructivist style M here is divided in the middle making it feel like a stencil graphic, the dot added above each vertical makes the icon feel like its linking two people together.
Comp 4: Similar to comp 1 with a different colorway.
Comp 5: This is a propaganda style mark with an individual waving a flag promoting the collective. The silhouette provides a sense of an anonymous everyman: inclusivity. The square cut typeface makes the mark feel more strong and references the constructivist period.
Comp 6: Same lock-up as comp 5 but with the dino head.
Comp 7: The shield lock-ups reference labor union graphics and European football (soccer) clubs: strong organizations. In this first comp MCC is formed to the shape of the shield in a direct way.
Comp 8: This shield has a different shape to it and utilizes the dino head, as well as a hint of lightning bolts at the bottom.
Comp 9: This is a combination of the previous two images bringing in the banner, and lightning bolts but keeping the MCC as a focal point.
March 6th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
If you want to avoid strong negative connotations for many people, you really need to drop the red color scheme.
March 6th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
@Anonymous – could you elaborate on that? There are probably several thousand logos out there (including Mozilla’s) that use a red color scheme without any notable negative connotations.
March 6th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
These are looking good. I prefer the direction of the shields (7/8/9).
Not a huge fan of the flag-waving logos in 5/6 — they are a a little too over-the-top for me.
I’m wondering if the “creative” in the creative collective can be emphasized a bit more. These are very industrial (especially 1-4), as if they were stamped out in mechanical precision–in other words, the opposite of individual creativity.
March 6th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
I can tell you that 5 and 6 are going to turn off a lot of people.
I find 8 the most visually appealing.
March 6th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Sorry that I start off with negative comments, but I wanted to eliminate a few before I got to the ones that I like.
I would definitely not choose 3, because the M/two people is trying too hard. It comes off as corporate and forced to me.
The dino head in 2 and 8 don’t seem integrated into the rest of the logo for me. 6, on the other hand, works well since the dino head is part of the image, rather than just in the image.
The shields stand out, but I’m a little unsure of the shield as a symbol. I definitely see soccer club logo, or something that relates to protection (police?), but not labor union. I see how it represents a strong organization, but not one that’s “of the people”, which I’m guessing is what you’re going for.
That said, I like the CMC in #7, because of the way we get to see the letters extend to fill the shield. It would be better if the Cs were less emphasized or something, so that it reads MCC instead of CMC. The thing about #7 I don’t like is how flat it feels – I much prefer the ribbon in #8 because it gives the logo some depth. I also prefer the shape of the shield in #8, but I’d change it so it doesn’t look so much like a police badge. Some combination of the two (7 and
would be best if you wanted to go in this shield direction.
The flag waving ones are interesting, but I think it could be a little too reminiscent of Soviet Russia, especially with the font. I personally don’t have much of a problem with it, but some people might – see comment #1. I like the MCC a lot, and it’s nice to see “MCC” instead of “CMC”. The dino head is an option, but I think the MCC works better.
I think the seal idea works the best, and I would choose #1 – I’m just not sure about the mark inside the wreath. It’s not too intuitive to see the Cs, and there’s something that I find odd about the triangular loop under the M. I think that with some work it could be really successful. If it’s done well, I don’t think it’d seem industrial at all – I totally picked up on the labor union feel. All the labor union logos that I can think of are round and seal-like.
Right now, I’d choose #1, but #5 and #7 definitely have elements that I like.
Hopefully I’ve provided some good feedback to work with
March 6th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
In my opinion, it has to have the dino head — it makes the Mozilla connection obvious to me, with all the others I have to read the words.
So that leaves 2, 6 and 8. 8’s thunderbolts are cheesy, and the dino head is all squished. 6 looks like you’re trying to organise a revolution.
That leaves 2, which I think is pretty good. But black, white and red is a harsh colour scheme.
March 7th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Honestly, I was expecting some Borg imagery in the logos.
March 7th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Thanks John for sharing these.
I’m definitely not a fan of 5 and 6. That’s not a Soviet Creative Collective, is it?
The others don’t make me think of labor unions, really. But I’m not sure if I would like it if they did. I mean, why should they? I think that from the ideas posted I would prefer design #1. Soccer style logos don’t make me think about anything else than soccer.
I general I feel that all these logos were inspired by the the word ‘collective’ used in the context of communist regimes. Now, I don’t want to sound harsh, I kinda enjoyed the old school graphics on mozilla.org back in 1998 (like here: http://davidwboswell.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/1998_site2.png). I just think there’s much else to the word ‘collective’ that we could try to emphasize. Things like community, gathering, collaboration, cooperation, aggregation, shared values and ideas. Not common property of the state and people’s republic of X
I’m not a native speaker though, so I may be wrong.
Black-red-white color theme is a bit too hard on my eyes, too.
March 7th, 2009 at 3:43 am
# 5 & 6 look remind me of communist propaganda flags. I would think Mozilla would like to avoid that image.
#2 looks like it would be fun for…kids to sew on their jackets.
#3 looks the best from my point of view
March 7th, 2009 at 3:52 am
I like number 8 because of the dino head (but it should not look squished as now). To improve it I’d use the banner from 9.
March 7th, 2009 at 5:50 am
My initial thought was that the shield looks good but is possibly too commonly used elsewhere. Among those three, I prefer #9 but maybe use a very small dino head in replace of the lightning.
I kind of like the idea of the square concept but it’s interesting to see the comments (issues) with a guy waving a flag. I like #6 but the dino head looks slightly out of place. More white space on the left of the head might help this balance.
I do like the circle concepts and thought #3 was clever. #1 or #2 look good too. I feel a small disconnect with the head and red circle in #2. I don’t like #4.
March 7th, 2009 at 8:11 am
I like 3 IMO it says community,team,share
the M style is simple and to the point – looks good
+ I like 8 and 9 or a combination of all three
I would try Creative Collective font from 9 on 8 and add the M logo on 3
Good work All
March 7th, 2009 at 8:36 am
I think you should really have the Mozilla head in there, so all logos using it look better to me than the others. I personally like 8 best overall, even though the font used there is not ideal as the “R” and “A” letters both used in one word are hard to distinguish.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I like number 8 the best because it is spaced out right.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:31 am
First place goes to #8. second place should go to #2.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:31 am
2
March 7th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Choose 8 it’s the cleanest of the bunch.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:34 am
No. 5 is a great and strong logo, it has my vote
People really need to grow up and overcome the “evil communists” brain washing from the past.
The whole concept is referring to labour right movements, nothing more, nothing less.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:34 am
I like no 1 best, 5 and 6 look like political posters and 7, 8 and 9 look like football badges. Thanks for the opportunity to contribute.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:34 am
2 or 8.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I’d love to see Nr. 2 with the stars. My other favorite is Nr. 6.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:38 am
#1 is by far my favorite. The swirly “M” is very artistic and beautiful. The wreath and stars are elegant and subtly imply prestige. The mostly black+white plus a touch of red has a stronger and more unified look than the #4 alternative.
#2 would be a decent runner-up. Simple and balanced.
#3 loses graphic strength to blatant symbolism, and turns out quite contrived.
The retro-”Soviet” ones (#5-6) are pretty kitschy and too politically suggestive (in my opinion) for the purpose. I think that look is also trendy.
Out of the badge-style logos, #8 seems visually the strongest to me, but is still not as striking or attractive to me as #1.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:39 am
2
March 7th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Circle, Square, Shield… Well, Mozilla + Creativity are much more free and boundless to be enclosed by such *shapes* to be honest.
Would love to put my vote on something open-ended and unbounded…
March 7th, 2009 at 11:43 am
5 and 6 are absurdly communist-era looking. Shouldn’t even be considered. It’s silly.
3 is the best.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Using Soviet-style imagery is going to offend a good number of Mozilla supporters in Eastern Europe. I’m not sure why one would consciously choose an artistic style associated so heavily with communist propaganda posters, when Open Source already has problems with being equated with communism.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:53 am
I must say that I do not like any of these logos. They really give off a negative vibe. The first thing I think of is the USSR, or the fascist party in the movie “V for Vendetta.”
March 7th, 2009 at 11:54 am
All look a bit communist.
I like #2 from this set – integrates mozilla’s logo and colors.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Sorry folks,
I think you need to reconsider,
not that good,
needs more work.
March 7th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
3, 6, 7 and 8 all look good to me. i really like the ones that utilize the dragon head because that is iconic of mozilla, i think. my only problem with 8 is the head covers the word mozilla a little much – which is not a huge deal, but it makes 6 my fave!
March 7th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
2 or 8
March 7th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I don’t really like any of them. I was expecting some cool, colourful 3D, not a plethora of union and/or communist-looking logos.
It’s the 2000’s, get with the program comrades!
March 7th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Like the shields the most #7 most “clean” but like the lizard in #8 also.
March 7th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
1st or 4th – look very neat and old style !
Otherwise 9 – being a football fan makes me biased towards that design
March 7th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
2 from my point of view
March 7th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
If those were the only possible logos, then I would choose 7, the other ones have way to much things going on and are very forgettable because of it.
However number 9 with number 8’s rex instead of the CMC letters would be a killer very un-forgettable logo.
March 7th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I really like all the ones with the Dino heads. These are some great imagery and I can see them all being made into embroidered badges that people could put on their backpacks or jackets.
However, I do have to agree with the previous comments that the concept of creative just isn’t being expressed to me at all.
I would love to see them used as is as general Mozilla community logos or community marketing. I think they’re just perfect for that and I think these will ruin me for anything else we might come up with later.
March 7th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
First pick : nr 8 : A bit of reorgnanicing / rescaling ang nr 8 is the winner.!
Second pick : nr 2 : clean, got the mozilla head…
March 7th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
5/6 were upsetting at first glance. I’m sure they’re closer to communist propaganda than nazi, but the latter’s what came to mind immediately.
I like 9 a lot.
March 7th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I like 8 the best because of the layout.
March 7th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Compare with 9 of them, 8 would be the best, the sign of Mozilla and Creative Collective came out sharply!!
March 7th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
None of these really scream “Mozilla” to me.
1-4 look like baseball team patches.
5-6 look like communist propaganda symbols.
7 Resembles some police logos I’ve seen
8-9 look like those football logo shields which pop up during the super bowl.
Note that none of these are things I particularly like or automatically associate good things with.
Look at mozilla.com. Theres a lot of items in the background, each with a different three-shade palette. Look at spreadfirefox.com; you can hardly read it due to the explosion of color.
Aside from the dino logo, everything from Mozilla these days has a fairly vibrant color palette. I expected color before even seeing those logos.
March 7th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I’m stuck between #2 and #5.
As cool as the imagery is in #5, it seems more of a poster than a logo so I think my personal preference is for #2. And from the comments above it seems that that’s the general consensus so-far.
March 7th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
I’m partial to #2. I like the idea of keeping the branding obvious and officially associated with Mozilla.
I would like to see at least another color added and the default red Mozilla logo used.
I spent about an hour trying to come up with a decent background that the default Moz logo would look good against and all that I could come up with for a suggestion is using the colors and Sun ray type graphics that are seen in the Mozilla’s 10th anniversary graphic (located in intothefuzz’s photostream).
Using the orange (#F4A62A) from that graphic wouldn’t be a bad idea for the text either and it would help to prevent people of being reminded of the Starbucks logo.
My second choice.
I like #6. It’s a symbol of pride, a call to action, and sure, a revolution. Isn’t that what this all is? The Mozilla Revolution?
I would however really like to see different colors and the default Mozilla logo used. Using the colors and style that i mentioned for #2 would be perfect.
And also, I don’t quite understand what the white under the flag is. It looks as if the flag is ripped, so perhaps just a standard flag shape would do.
As for the others, I don’t care for them. Especially the shields.
I understand the amount of time, work, and thought that goes into creating graphics so I’ve done my best to provide constructive criticism and suggestions and not be insulting. I hope that I have succeeded at that.
March 7th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
John, I know that this is totally not even remotely close to what you want to send out, but the black-red-white color scheme triggers much more “nazi” associations than communism. Check in with the propaganda material of the NPD here in Germany, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Democratic_Party_of_Germany or the NSDAP proper even.
It just totally doesn’t work out for me.
Again, no dash of me putting you anywhere close there, but I thought I’d add this POV from a German.
March 7th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
6
March 7th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I am with Axel on this. The black-red-white color scheme is what the German Second Reich used as their state colors, and these colors were later abused by the Third Reich and the NSDAP.
When I look at 1-4, what comes to my mind is things like these…
The #2 symbol itself (without the nazi-like circles around it) is a good starting point, but it needs different surroundings.
I also agree with James – take colors from mozilla.com.
(This might be a “me too” comment… Oh well
March 7th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Community… Not Communism
First thing I felt. Communism! Socialism! If you are using constructivism with red, it just ring that bell. It has that Che Guevara or even Hitler propaganda style. Specially the one with the flag which is just too nationalistic (not in a good way) Also, I think of Firefox as they portrait it on their website… the organic software. I really believe the look should go in that direction… friendly… bringing people together… working for the community.
March 7th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
A lot of people started saying similar things, and there were a lot of comments, so I stopped reading what other people have said, and will just put in my two cents.
I like the circular shape used in logos 1–4, as they can very easily put on the entire front of a shirt. I’m not a huge fan of logos 5–6. And logos 7–9 look like soccer club logos.
With that’s said, here are some more specific opinions:
Logo 1: It’s a pretty good design, but I don’t think it’s especially distinctive. I didn’t see the “person” until it was specifically pointed out to me (though I did the resemblance to CMC).
Logo 2: This reminds me of something that I just can’t place right now, but I do like the way the dino head is in the center. It looks very nice, especially with its inverted color scheme.
Logo 3: I understand the concept of the two people forming the M, but it does try to hard. Plus, it looks like a Kabuto from Pokémon or something.
Logo 4: I don’t like the redness of it, and I would prefer Logo 1 over Logo 4.
Logo 5: This is rather boring and indistinct. Plus, it looks a bit like the flag says “ME”.
Logo 6: This looks much better than Logo 5, with the dino head on it.
Logo 7: I like how this invokes a bit of the Mozilla M logo that was used as a throbber for a while. I like how the letter extend down under the rest of the text, though it does seem to envoke a bit of a Transformers logo feel, I think.
Logo 8: This is the most soccer-esque of the three shields. I don’t like the lightning bolts, and even the dino head seems a bit out of place.
Logo 9: I like the banner on this one.
Overall, I don’t like the font used for Logos 5, 6, and 8. Also, I think these logos could do with a more colorful color scheme. There’s a bit of an overload of red. (Black isn’t really a big deal, as it’s neutral.) Leave the red for the dino head, and get some more colors in there!
March 7th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Really great comments, everyone. It’s been a big help so far to hear your thoughts.
Keep ‘em coming!
-John