Celebrating Contributors and Strengthening Community Identity
Pontoon is Mozilla’s in-house localization platform, enabling a global community of contributors to translate and improve Firefox and other Mozilla products. To encourage engagement and recognize contributors’ efforts, I worked on designing achievement badges—a system that celebrates milestones and contributions in a fun and rewarding way.
The problem
Localization work is critical but often invisible—contributors dedicate time and effort, yet there were few ways to acknowledge their impact. Pontoon wanted to create a rewarding experience that would motivate translators, encourage ongoing participation, and reinforce the sense of community within the platform.
At the same time, Pontoon itself needed a visual refresh—something that would better reflect the spirit of collaboration and impact of the team.
Co-Creating a Better Experience
I led two major design initiatives, shaped by direct community input:
- Achievement Badges
- Designed a set of scalable, visually engaging badges that recognize contributor milestones.
- Ensured clear visual hierarchy, making different achievement levels easy to distinguish.
- Prioritized accessibility, using high contrast and legible details.
- Maintained brand consistency while giving Pontoon a unique personality within Mozilla.
- Pontoon Brand Refresh
- Created three refreshed design options for Pontoon, each with an updated look and feel.
- Engaged the Pontoon community, allowing contributors to vote on their preferred design.
- Seamlessly collaborated with developers, industry experts, and the community to implement the winning design.
- The chosen design is now live across the website, enhancing usability and visual appeal while staying true to the platform’s purpose.
Outcome & Impact
The achievement badges now provide a visible and meaningful way to celebrate contributors, encouraging ongoing participation. The community-selected brand refresh has created a stronger identity for Pontoon, improving clarity and usability while ensuring the platform reflects the values of its contributors.
Closing Statement
This project was a great example of collaboration in action—bringing together design, development and the community to create something impactful. By designing a scalable reward system and refreshing the brand with direct input from contributors, we strengthened both motivation and identity within the Pontoon ecosystem.
Dive deeper in the achievement badges project on the L10n blog linked here.
