The big picture: Mozilla's new logo and branding for its Firefox family of products highlight that Mozilla is evolving beyond the web browser, and is looking to carve out a unique identity. The company is also looking down the road and will begin to offer some sort of premium subscription later in the year. By introducing a subscription, Mozilla would be diversifying its revenue stream, becoming less reliant on search companies.

Almost a year ago, Mozilla announced it was evolving the Firefox brand, and subsequently sought feedback from users on fresh logo designs. If you recall, Mozilla offered two designs: one that was more of a geometric fox head, and the other being more of a circular flame. Now, it seems Mozilla has settled on a new iteration of the latter, as the company debuts its new logo.

Ardent Firefox users may be affronted at the removal of the longstanding fox, but fret not; this new logo will serve as a parent brand to identify the family of Firefox products. The Firefox brand has expanded to include components like Firefox Send, Firefox Monitor, Firefox Lockwise, and of course, the Firefox web browser.

As Mozilla has indicated in the past, it wants to better distinguish its bevy of products. So, the Firefox browser itself will retain the fox logo. Have a look:

The Firefox browser icon has gotten a redesign, too, and Mozilla is rolling out a new typeface as well. With the rebranding, Mozilla took the opportunity to present the four pillars its new brand identity is based on.

  • Radical. It's a radical act to be optimistic about the future of the internet. It's a radical act to serve others before ourselves. We disrupt the status quo because it's the right thing to do.
  • Kind. We want what's best for the internet and for the world. So we lead by example. Build better products. Start conversations, Partner, collaborate, educate and inform. Our empathy extends to everybody.
  • Open. Open-minded. Open-hearted. Open source. An open book. We make transparency and a global perspective integral to our brand, speaking many languages and striving to reflect all vantage points.
  • Opinionated. Our products prove that we are driven by strong convictions. Now we're giving voice to our point of view. While others can speak only to settings, we ground everything in our ethos.

Mozilla is also preparing to offer a premium subscription inside of Firefox that could offer users access to VPN and cloud storage services. While it's presently unclear the full extent of these, Mozilla CEO Chris Beard stated in an interview with t3n that they plan to roll out in October.

Mozilla claims such services would not compromise the development or reach of existing products, nor would Mozilla begin to charge for any existing Firefox features. "A high-performing, free and private-by-default Firefox browser will continue to be central to our core service offerings," said Dave Camp, senior VP of Firefox.

So, did Mozilla make the right choice with the logo? Would you pay for a premium version of Firefox?