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- Mar 5, 2018
Introducing new Colorways for Firefox 94
November 2, 2021
Today, Firefox is launching Colorways, a new feature that allows our users to express their most authentic selves and to bring them joy while browsing the web. As we challenge what the browser has been, and expand and define the vision of what Firefox browser is and can be, part of that challenge is to ask ourselves “who is it for and who can use it easily and feel included in the experience?”
We caught up with Mikal Lewis, Senior Director, Product Management for Firefox, to hear more about his vision for Firefox and the impetus for launching Colorways.
Can you speak more to your vision for Firefox — what’s happening now, and what’s exciting about where it is headed?
Privacy has been part of our vision from day one and is always going to be part of what we deliver on in our product. We’re making the connection that a safe and joyful internet is a colorful one, and ultimately we want to connect with the people that make the internet a colorful place. We know Firefox users are aware that other browsers and tools exist that they could use for being online, leveraging the internet and getting things done. But they come to rely on Firefox in many ways as their personal browser of choice in large part because of the experience our privacy features offer, but now also because of the joy we can help provide in different ways. So our vision of Firefox is to help those customers continue to have a world-class experience and get more from the internet every day with less compromises that come with the internet.Why make color-based customization a top priority for a product like a web browser?
We know that we are spending more time in this digital ecosystem — not the concrete jungle, but the digital jungle. So much more of our life is flowing through what have historically been these gray boxes. And we don’t really tolerate this type of what I would say are one-size-fits-all tools anywhere else in our lives. And so, it just feels like a natural extension to allow people to make this tool that they’re leveraging every day feel more of their own, to feel fresh, to be exciting, to just bring in that small moment of delight to their day.We identified that color is a way to connect with people across all divides (and we have research that people respond positively to it) — it is a universal language that transcends the boundaries of our diverse verbal languages. And we chose “Colorways” rather than “themes” to show we are branching out from our language of “browser” to speak the language of everyday life and everyday users. This is about more than just installing a new “theme,” which really doesn’t have much meaning to most people.
Why is it important for you that people who use Firefox should have these customizable choices?
Using the web is fun! The web is fun, it should be fun. The only way you get on the web should not be by choosing your different colored gray box. The web is a rich tapestry. Why does it only have to be one way? Why can’t you have this delight and joy that you bring to the experience? And specifically with how much we use the web and rely on it every day. That is the core story and a big grounding reason for this: because it’s fun.What body of research guided you to developing these color-based customizations in a browser? What have you learned from early conversations with users?
I think it was a hypothesis that I had early on. Coming from the fashion industry, the limited edition drop, to those outside the industry, could really feel like this money grab where you’re like, “Doing this one special…” But for people who love fashion and people who love expression, it’s so special and it has so much evocative meaning to people. You’ll hear customers talk about a shirt like, “That color is just… If this was a slightly darker shade of blue, I’d be okay with it,” or, “If this yellow was a little bit more subdued, I’d be okay with it.” Knowing we select our fashion as well as the tools to navigate our days, we’ve begun to hypothesize about how we can bring more expression into Firefox, more things to choose from that delight. It’s the same brain to evaluate our tools, choose an outfit, and navigate our day, so I’ve had the hypothesis that people are interested in customizing their tools and making it more of their own, potentially the same way they choose an outfit.But what really guided this specific release was that it’s just what we learned when we did our redesign in June. When we gave people the opportunity to choose a new way to express themselves with color in their browsing experience, their engagement shot through the roof. I mean, the adoption of certain themes increased by more than 200%. We came up with the question, what if we really lean into this? What would that experience look like, and what is the experience that we can give our customers? Those all came together and have formed the basis for this release, which we think is really just the beginning of making sure that the experience of using Firefox is your expression of Firefox.
When we gave people the opportunity to choose a new way to express themselves with color in their browsing experience, their engagement shot through the roof. I mean, the adoption of certain themes increased by more than 200%.
— Mikal Lewis on the impetus for creating new Colorways for Firefox 94
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