How do you take an unpopular software browser and make it popular enough to resonate with audiences all over again? The answer is simple: just add an animated touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2013, popular Japanese blogger Danny Choo posted three personification designs<\/a> for Internet browsers including Firefox, Chrome, and Safari on Facebook. Fans noted the absence of a counterpart for Microsoft\u2019s Internet Explorer and Collateral Damage Studios<\/a>, an art studio also known as CDS, decided to research and have some fun in creating an \u201cIE-tan\u201d<\/a> (or Internet Explorer-tan) to expand their portfolio into character design. Maybe, just maybe, the design could even bring Microsoft on as a client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Built on the concept of redemption (where the bulky IE outpaced by younger, hip browsers like Chrome deserves a second chance), the character of Inori Aizawa<\/a> embodied an ugly duckling. She was initially clumsy and nerdy, always trying to do too much like opening multiple tabs and getting frustrated over errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, in a Sailor Moon<\/em>-esque transformation in the animated campaign ad<\/a>, Inori became a much more confident, elegant, and daring personification. CDS added the classic IE toolbar to her long gloves to allow her to control multiple tabs on a browser window and her overall outfit and general design included more Windows and IE symbols and slick, touchscreen panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a clever side note, her name tied in to Internet Explorer nicely too. \u201cAizawa\u201d was chosen because she came from the same Microsoft mascot family as Silverlight and \u201cInori\u201d as \u201cgiven what she represents, she could definitely use a prayer.\u201d<\/a> The first syllable of each part of her name read Ai Ii, sounding a lot like\u2026 \u201cIE-tan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n