Keen watchers of industry trends think that Mozilla is working on changing its logo, and have been debating just what this means for the company behind Firefox.

The existing logo was developed and chosen as a result of community feedback. In it, the i double l in the name Mozilla is represented using the colon and double slash of the HTTP:// protocol.

At the time Mozilla said the options were

"Guided by where Mozilla is headed strategically, principles of good design, and the feedback we’ve received through this open process"

The Mozilla logo has been displayed in Zilla Slab font since then, and has been used on Mozilla branded merchandise. The rumors of change have come about because the Mozilla online branded merchandise site has products that use a different logo.

The new design has a different typeface and a 'flag' logo made up of a bar, a dot and a sideways M, forming a design that if you squint looks a bit like the old dinosaur logo used originally by Netscape, one of the founding companies behind Mozilla. The name Mozilla comes from combining Mosaic (the name of the Netscape browser), and Godzilla. The dinosaur logo was retired in 2012.

A German blogger called Sören Hentzschel has dug further, and discovered on GitHub that the new logo is also being used in a variable called 'brand-refresh'  in code that will be used to refresh the Mozilla website.

Hentzschel points out that while the current Mozilla logo must always be visible on a background according to branding guidelines, the new logo is integrated without a background, which could mean that this design restriction is no longer applicable.

All this seems to point to Mozilla moving to a rebrand. What none of the watchers has fully explained is why Mozilla might be doing a rebrand. In some ways, though, the most important part of the rumors is that the Mozilla dinosaur might be making a limited comeback. Roar.

More Information

Mozilla's Nothing Personal Webpage

Mozilla Branded Merchandise Shop

Sören Hentzschel Blog

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