I attended a fantastic presentation by Steven Heller hosted by the Art Directors Club of Metro Washington DC on Friday night and he explained that Brand is a fetish… it is when people don’t just identify with something but embrace it. This concept fascinates me especially when it falls in the realm of an a-typical product. People get totally juiced up and excited over so many things; there are mini-cooper meet-up groups and people who are obsessed with Harry Potter, but I am fascinated when a group of enthusiasts rally around something meant to be functional.. often dry, and usually transparent… like a web browser. Firefox has organically grown an enormous group of brand loyalists using guerrilla marketing and online tactics that go far beyond anything that their competitors are doing. From that they have defied odds and currently maintain a healthy stronghold on a substantial percentage (36.3% in December 2007 according to the W3C) of the browser market. How are they doing it?

They are not evil.
Firefox is a project of the non-profit Mozilla foundation:

devotes its resources to promoting openness, innovation and opportunity on the Internet. We do this by supporting the community of Mozilla contributors and by assisting others who are building technologies that benefit users around the world.

They go so far as to spell out exactly what they are all about in their own Manifesto which states their goals and principles. Dude, what is cooler than a manifesto? I mean Pirates and people who start revolutions have manifestos.

The first time I read this document my heart skipped a beat… an organization that believes in all the idealistic wonderful web things I do? OMG How can I not embrace that? An excerpt of three of their principles are as follows:

1. The Internet is an integral part of modern life–a key component in education, communication, collaboration, business, entertainment and society as a whole.
2. The Internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible.
3. The Internet should enrich the lives of individual human beings.

Openly stating and documenting all of their non-evil beliefs online in a manifesto makes them hard to dislike… and modern day pirates. Arrrr!

They make a great product & experience (which organically creates word of mouth)

There are lots of great advantages to Firefox, the customization really sets them apart from the other products to the average user. While being open and secure are big pluses, the average joe is going to notice all the fantastic plug-ins they can use to make their browsing experience unique.
As a Web Designer I constantly rely on (and recommend) the Web Developer Extension. My friend, the Catch-up Lady (an avid Firefox user) constantly recommends the All in One Gesture Add-on.

They have fun.

Fun designs, fun T-shirts and fun promotions abound. They don’t take themselves too seriously and that makes using their product that more attractive. They recently held a competition called Operation Firefox where they encouraged their users to use guerrilla tactics to place a 3.5 foot Firefox sticker in a public space. Insane challenges and a manifesto… pirates. Arrr!

They leverage successful online and offline marketing tactics
Spreadfirefox.com houses a complete toolkit that helps people spread the word online through photos, banners, and talking points as well as offline events where Firefox enthusiasts take to the streets. Rather than utilizing traditional marketing tactics Firefox has decided to go this low budget route leveraging and amplifying the word of mouth their product has already created and giving their users to do the same. They take all the work out of it, making it simple and effective.

They look good
Firefox’s logos, buttons, banners, and even T-shirts are all well designed. Its a pleasure to have the Firefox logo sitting in my dock, and their T-shirts are witty and fashionable. Their microsites like Operation Firefox and the Mozilla store all have organic tangible feels to them. Taking something like a browser that exists only in the online space and giving it a very offline feel.

From Twitter:

mringlein: my new years resolution is stop designing web 2.0 … i am all about the 2.5 this year. vintage wallpaper backgrounds and real life objects

mringlein: gradients and reflections are out …. the masking tape and handwriting fonts are in baby!

SamanthaToy: @mringlein http://www.24-7media.de/ was doing that stuff since forums were the “in” thing. I feel like trends are recycling themselves

dndrnkrd: @samanthatoy, @mringlein I agree, it’s not time for 2004 to come back yet. Good design can exist irrespective of trends.

I’m a little confused. I have heard so many people refer to the “Web 2.0 Look” and have been dealing with this confusion for a while. After all, the definition of “web 2.0″ says nothing about a specific aesthetic style. After my twitter conversation yesterday I followed up with my friend Dan to chat more on this subject. Dan explained that Martin’s comment may be a direct result of a backlash happening in the design community since Elliot Jay Stocks’ Presentation “Destroying the Web 2.0 Look” at the Future of Web Design Conference. I hadn’t seen the video of this presentation and decided to check it out.

I agree with Elliot Jay Stocks for the most part. I just think there is a little more to it than that.

Some things I would like to add, expand upon, or just discuss further…

Concept is King
The more concerning point that was just brushed over here is that there is a common theme in the design community to go ahead and move forward with a design without a strong concept. Elliott Jay Stocks mentioned that it’s OK to use a reflection on your logo if the name of your company has the word “reflect” in it. Well… that would be illustrating and supporting an overarching concept.
Ellen Lupton says it best

“Think more, design less. Many desperate acts of design (drop shadows, gradients and the gratuitous use of transparency) are committed in the void left by a strong concept. “

Rock on, Ellen. Rock on.

But are all trends bad? No just overusing them is.
Design is about communication and sometimes established trends help to communicate an idea or feeling. Sure they have been done before, but perhaps you need to say “technology” ” or cutting edge” without looking dated and like a 1960s SCIFI movie poster. Well then referencing some of the elements used by Apple in your design would help communicate the language that Apple has previously established for visually saying “innovative”. Any and all of the elements of the “Web 2.0 Look” can be successfully integrated and used in a design if you have a reason for doing so.

Form follows function
If I am designing a website for the US army, gloss is not appropriate most of the time. I mean those guys get pretty freaking dirty. No need to create a new look for them, they have a pretty clear one already established. If I am designing a Website for an IT company splatter paint and handwritten fonts are most likely not going to clearly communicate what the company is trying to say.

Grungy and Glossy are textures not looks
The web involves interaction design. Texture can help define the visual hierarchy of information and guide a user through the site. It also helps to create dimension transforming the screen into layers of interaction. Using texture is good, just some types are more commonly used than others.

Who’s Guilty of Using the “Look”
I am. I bet you might be. A lot of designers are. I have said before and I will say it again, if you see my use of diagonal lines as a background its because I really am spent for ideas and something is keeping me from developing a strong concept. Sometimes that may be a client, other times it may be a deadline. But the reality is at the end of the day, I gots to get paid. In a perfect world clients will come to designers for their expertise and trust their decisions, but it just doesn’t always happen. Designing something that is aesthetically pleasing versus conceptually appropriate is still a win in the war on ugly. Ya gotta pick and choose your battles.

Creativity is Part of the Job Description
There are lots of designers out there just recycling other people’s ideas. Shopping around from site to site picking and choosing what they like and putting it all back together for their client. This is not a designer this is a Digital Collage artist. Your duty as a designer is to present the creative concept. I understand that the client may shoot it down or some jackass managerial type person may not feel ya… but part of being a designer is seeing how the website fits into the big picture in a smart way. If you find yourself recycling too much, maybe you need to sit down with a notebook and do some drawing… away from the internet. It will help.

Stop worrying about trends & think about making good design
In conclusion there is a lot of shit being overused on the web, and there is definitely an overarching lack of originality and concept. As Dan said “Good design can exist irrespective of trends”. What is “good design”? It is when the designer has a clear, researched, creative, and appropriate answer for the “why” about every part of the web-site. Those diagonal lines may not be “just a default” if there is a thought-out reason for using them. If that reason supports a kick-ass concept, then that is “awesome design”.

You can still press return to size up the situation , but dying of cholera is much less likely. One of your players may stay behind in Vegas with a cocktail waitress named Starla but no one is going to come down with a case of the measles. Covered wagon? Try a hybrid sedan with a Thule luggage rack. Want to hunt for a bear? Ford the river or take a ferry? No way… how about you enter a snowboarding competition outside of Boulder Colorado.

The Oregon Trail is now the Thule Trail, an online computer game designed by Periscopic to support TDA’s Thule Road Trip advertising campaign. If you are not familiar with Thule they make car racks for anything from kayaks to snowboards. So the challenge here is… make someone want to take a road trip and do outdoorsy stuff… while they are sitting at home hovering over their computer.

The Oregon Trail was popular computer game in the mid to late 80s and rereleased in the early 90s. Asking around almost everyone in my age range (20s) has nearly shrieked with jubilation over the near mention of the game. This demographic would also be those who play extreme sports and have the cash to add a new bicycle rack on top of their SUV. Sprinkle in some post-college humor and relatable road trip scenarios and you have kick-ass rainy Sunday morning entertainment.

From Periscopic’s website:

Developed entirely in Flash, the game makes use of a set of sophisticated XML files to dynamically create a gaming experience that is new each time. Filled with numerous smaller games within the game, players travel over 2000 miles across the USA in search of wacky people, sketchy food and unexpected adventure.

Think you and four friends could spend seven days in a car together? You might want to give this a try first.

I love the idea. A strong concept and humor really carries this design.

I have played the game now 4 times, and damnit… I can’t make it past Vegas. I will probably play it another 3 or 4 times. I am now blogging about it, I will probably e-mail about 5 friends with it.. oh and hell… I will add it to my delicious. BUT where will I compare scores with other competitors… where will I talk back? Wouldn’t it be cool if you could contribute your own personal random scenarios to the game?

This is where some would go on a “web 2.0 is a conversation” rant and ponder the sustainability of this 1.0 interactive marketing tactic on the social web. But I am not. Not because I don’t think it is relevant… its just that my time is better spent right now trying to figure out how to keep Keri from “sticking a small fruit candy up her nostril” around Des Moines and Jim from “rolling around wild flowers and wierding everyone out”. Excuse me I need to make it to the freaking Music Festival on the Thule Trail with a hybrid car-load of modern day slackers.

Want to share Scores? Funny random events from your trip? Feel free to take a screenshot and discuss this game here in the comments. I would love to get this going.

http://www.thuleroadtrip.com/thule_trail/thuleTrail.html

Thanks to Eric for passing this along.