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Why design values?
As we design new features for our existing products, take Firefox to new platforms, and create new products, we find ourselves asking — is this Firefoxy? Is what we’re making a clear expression of what it means to be Firefox? What will make it more Firefoxy? What will we not do because it’s not true to Firefox?
So, design values help us understand the attributes of Firefoxiness and guide us as we work.
Where did this come from?
The Firefox UX team developed this set of design values as a tool for our own use. Our hope, though, is that they are true and helpful enough that you will find them useful, too.
It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.
- Roy Disney
Where do we
use them?
AValues help us filter and choose what design opportunities to pursue
BValues shape our design decisions as we refine and test
CValues guide us through implementation tradeoffs, and explain what we’re shipping
DValues help establish what constitutes success
Firefox Design Values
Takes care of you
Firefox champions you – your security, privacy, and the quality of your online life. It makes sensible decisions for you that respect your time, data, and attention.
PRINCIPLES
- user-sovereignty
- default to privacy
- no surprises
- actionable advice
You help make it
Firefox is is crafted to have the best possible user-experience, but it’s only a perfect fit once it’s in your hands and can make it your own.
PRINCIPLES
- research gives a voice to our non-core community
- start people with smart defaults
- implicit as well as explicit customization
- invite people to be more than users
Plays well with others
Firefox is part of the community of products you choose because they’re great, not because they’re the defaults. In that spirit, Firefox never locks you into particular services or providers. Instead, it gives you choice and independence (along with great suggestions) so you can have the best possible experience.
PRINCIPLES
- user control and choice
- simple to use the services you choose
- suggest ways to get the most out of the web
Exuberant
Where other browsers might be plain and minimal, or sleek and impersonal, Firefox is human, fun, whimsical, and joyful. We all love the web and so does Firefox.
PRINCIPLES
- feels like there is a person at the other end
- fun tools are easier to use
- humour and whimsy
- have a point of view
Finely crafted
Firefox is made by people who care about the details. A beautiful product is a pleasure to use and feels easy and clear. This only comes with craft and attention to detail.
PRINCIPLES
- see also our visual design guidelines
- continuity of look and feel across platforms
- perceivable quality is vital
Global
Firefox is used and made by people all around the world. It’s not just translated — it’s designed for the whole world, place by place. While certain activities are universal, there’s a real diversity of use and need across the globe, and Firefox cares about these differences.
PRINCIPLES
- global means local and local and local
Balances power and simplicity
Firefox is simple and easy to use, clean and straightforward in its design. But simplicity is a means, not the end – the end is understanding and user-agency.
PRINCIPLES
- 80/20/2: default to surface minimalism and easy access to the rest
- user-agency and understanding, not just less
Makes sense of the web
The web is huge and hard to comprehend. Firefox helps make sense of it by focusing on your real human goals and activities and giving you the tools you need to accomplish your ends.
PRINCIPLES
- focus on real human tasks and contexts
- many real tasks involve a browser and other tools
- quick access to your stuff and web
- no jargon
High user-performance
Speed is still the most important part of a good browser experience, but on top of benchmarkable technical performance, the browser must feel viscerally responsive.
PRINCIPLES
- performance is objective, but responsiveness is subjective
- a happy user performs better