Mozilla Firefox
Firefox Recap:
Turning seasonal churn into a reactivation moment.
Designing a year-end experience that helps users feel a sense of belonging, not just utility.
Role
Product & Creative Designer
Timeline
Sept 24 - May 25
Team
4 Designers (Product, Visual, Motion), 3 PMs & Mentors
Team
4 Designers (Product, Visual, Motion), 3 PMs & Mentors
Firefox loses 3-5% of its Monthly Active Users annually during Q4-Q1 (roughly 4.2M-7 M users) when people get new devices and default to the pre-installed browsers.
Many users switch to Chrome, Edge, or Safari because they are pre-installed on Android, Windows, or iOS/macOS, respectively. This convenience makes it hard for Firefox to gain or maintain market share, with many users simply accepting the default browser.
Problem
This pattern repeats every holiday season.
New devices → default browsers → silent drop in active users.
Solution
Firefox Recap, a celebratory year end recap of users' browsing, belonging with utility.
Impact
87% user satisfaction in early studies.
Impact
87% user satisfaction in early studies.
Leadership asked:
"Could a year-end experience like Spotify Wrapped, reactivate dormant users and drive re-engagement during this critical window?"
3-5% of 141M users = 4.2M - 7M users at risk annually.
Once users switch to a default browser, the re-acquisition cost is high.
Hypothesis: A memorable year-end moment could give people a reason to return.
The Paradox of Everything. Browsing ≠ music. It's news, research, shopping, entertainment, everything. And Firefox users chose us for privacy.
Introducing
Firefox Recap
Firefox Recap is a year-end experience that celebrates users' browsing journeys—similar to Spotify Wrapped, but for your browser. It turns browsing behavior (tabs opened, languages explored, peak usage months) into a personal, shareable story that reminds users of their relationship with Firefox.
The Approach:
Will users smile, feel seen, and want to share this? 🤩
Year-end experiences don't follow a standard product design process. There's no user problem to solve, no task to optimize, no friction to remove. Instead, this required continuous experimentation focused on one question: How does this make people feel?
Analyzed 18 year-end campaigns across industries (Spotify Wrapped, Duolingo Year in Review, Strava Year in Sport) to identify patterns in what makes these experiences shareable vs. forgettable.
Why look outside browsing? Year-end campaigns aren't a standard product feature. No playbook exists for "recapping" something as multifaceted as web browsing. I needed to understand the underlying mechanics of what makes people want to share their data.
Key insight:
Year-end experiences work when they help users see themselves in a new, flattering light, not when they hold up an uncomfortable mirror.
Unlike Spotify (knows every song), Firefox telemetry is aggregated and anonymized.
What We Couldn't Say:
- "You visited Reddit 847 times" (too specific, embarrassing)
- "Your most-visited site was..." (privacy violation)
- "You spent 47 hours on social media" (judgmental)
What We Could Say:
- "You opened 2,847 tabs this year" (general, relatable)
- "You explored 12 languages" (celebrates curiosity)
- "March was your busiest month" (neutral pattern)
Design Decision #1:
Patterns Over Content
Chose:
Celebrate "how you browsed" (12 languages explored) over "what you browsed" (47 AI articles).
Trade-off:
Less personalized but more universally shareable and privacy-safe.
Chose:
Early Failure:
V1: "You opened 2,847 tabs this year".
User feedback: "Sounds like I'm disorganized. Not sharing this."
The Fix:
V2: "2,847 tabs opened. Each one a new adventure.
(Don't worry, we won't tell anyone about the 47 you still have open.)"
User feedback: "Now it feels like Firefox gets me. I'd share this."
Design Decision #2:
Playful Over Neutral
Chose:
Self-aware humor over factual reporting.
Trade-off:
Might feel too casual but transformed shame into a shared experience.
Chose:
Early explorations showed that without structure, data points felt random. Users didn't know what was important or where to focus. Developed narrative structure to transform data into an emotional journey:
Welcome: "2024 was a year of discovery"
Scale: "You opened 2,847 tabs" (wow moment)
Diversity: "Across 12 languages, 40+ countries" (breadth)
Peak Moment: "March was your busiest month" (pattern)
Identity: "You're an explorer" (celebration)
Design Decision #3:
Linear Story Over Free Exploration
Chose:
Fixed narrative arc over letting users explore stats in any order. Users needed a guided emotional journey, beginning, climax, and satisfying end.
Trade-off:
Less user control, but more users saw the full story.
The Problem:
Static prototypes, users skipped through in 8 seconds (didn't absorb the story).
Motion Direction defined:
Reveal pattern: Data "writes itself" on screen (typewriter effect).
Transitions: Vertical slides (like scrolling through memories).
Pacing: 3-sec holds per stat, 0.5-sec transitions.
Design Decision #3:
Timed Motion
Chose:
Force animated reveals over tap-through.
Trade-off:
Less agency but 3.5x engagement (8 sec → 28 sec).
Chose:
Sample Size
20 participants (Internal and External to Mozilla)
Testing Method
Users experienced prototypes uninterrupted, then shared how it made them feel, more useful than usability testing for an experience about delight, not tasks.
Impact
87% user satisfaction in early studies.
Next Steps
The testing validated the core concept for Firefox, but transforming it into a polished, launch-ready experience requires more design cycles.
Next Steps
The testing validated the core concept for Firefox, but
Sometimes the right design solution isn't about removing friction, it's about creating delight.
Do read this, if you have lil time for some roller coaster creative exploration.
rutikabangera8@gmail.com
