Logo of Wikipedia
Encyclopedia
The logo
of Wikipedia
, an Internet
-based free multilingual encyclopedia
, is an unfinished globe constructed from jigsaw
pieces—some pieces are still missing at the top—inscribed with glyph
s from many different writing system
s. As displayed on the web pages of the English-language version of Wikipedia, there is a wordmark “Wikipedia” under the globe, and below that the text “The Free Encyclopedia”, in the free open-source
Linux Libertine
font.
or character), symbolizing the multilingualism of Wikipedia. They include the Cyrillic letter
И
(“I”), the Greek letter
Ω
(Omega), the Korean syllabic block
위 (wi), the Chinese character
維 (Wéi), the hindi letter for Wi at the left, the Bengali letter উ, and at the bottom the Kannada
kagunita (Vi) and the Hebrew
(and also Yiddish) letter ו (Vav
). As with the Latin letter
“W”, these glyphs are in most cases the first glyph of the name “Wikipedia” rendered in that language (for example, 維基大典 in Classical Chinese; similarly the Japanese katakana
ウィ makes the sound “wi”).
The empty space at the top represents the incomplete nature of the project, and languages yet to be added.
s of ligatures in certain writing systems. In particular one piece of Devanagari script and one piece of Japanese katakana
were incorrectly displayed.
In 2007, a modified 3D model was developed by Wikimedia Taiwan for Wikimania
, when they distributed a 3-inch diameter spherical puzzle based on the logo, that attendees could piece together. It did not add other letters on the parts that can't be seen on the 2D logo, but used that space to include small logos of the sister projects and information about Wikimania. A variant of that model was used to build a person-sized Wikiball that spun on a stand, featured during the event. This led to a renewed interest in getting a proper 3D model for the logo.
By 2007 users on listserv
s discovered that the logo had some minor errors. The errors were not immediately fixed, because according to Friedland, he could not locate the original project file. Friedland added that “I have tried to reconstruct it, but it never looks right” and that the logo “should be redrawn by a professional illustrator.” , a Wikipedian, said that most Japanese users supported correcting the errors. In an e-mail to Noam Cohen of The New York Times
Kizu said that “It could be an option to leave them as they are. Most people don’t take it serious and think the graphical logo is a sort of pot-au-feu
of various letters without meaning.”
The new logo was rolled out on the projects in May 2010. It features the new 3D rendering of the puzzle globe, with corrected characters (and the Klingon
character replaced by a Geʿez character). The wordmark
has been modified from the Hoefler Text
font to the open-source Linux Libertine
font, and the subtitle is no longer italicized. The “W”character, which was used in various other places in Wikipedia (such as the favicon
) and was a “distinctive part of the Wikipedia brand”, had “crossed” V glyphs in the original logo, while Linux Libertine has a joined W letter shape. As a solution, the “crossed” W was added as an OpenType variant to the Linux Libertine font.
by Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. The trade mark bears a filing date of 31 January 2008 and a registration date of 20 January 2009.
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
of Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, an Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-based free multilingual encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
, is an unfinished globe constructed from jigsaw
Jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces.Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture...
pieces—some pieces are still missing at the top—inscribed with glyph
Glyph
A glyph is an element of writing: an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written. A glyph is made up of one or more graphemes....
s from many different writing system
Writing system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
s. As displayed on the web pages of the English-language version of Wikipedia, there is a wordmark “Wikipedia” under the globe, and below that the text “The Free Encyclopedia”, in the free open-source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
Linux Libertine
Linux Libertine
Linux Libertine is a digital typeface created by the Libertine Open Fonts Project, which aims to create free and open alternatives to Proprietary software typefaces such Times Roman...
font.
Design
Each piece bears a glyph (letterLetter
A letter is a written message from one party to another. The role of letters in communication has changed significantly since the nineteenth century...
or character), symbolizing the multilingualism of Wikipedia. They include the Cyrillic letter
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
И
I (Cyrillic)
I is a letter used in almost all ancient and modern Cyrillic alphabets.It commonly represents the close front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨i⟩ in "machine", or the near-close near-front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨i⟩ in "bin".-History:The Cyrillic letter I was...
(“I”), the Greek letter
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
Ω
Omega
Omega is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system, it has a value of 800. The word literally means "great O" , as opposed to omicron, which means "little O"...
(Omega), the Korean syllabic block
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
위 (wi), the Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
維 (Wéi), the hindi letter for Wi at the left, the Bengali letter উ, and at the bottom the Kannada
Kannada script
The Kannada script is an alphasyllabary of the Brahmic family, used primarily to write the Kannada language, one of the Dravidian languages of southern India and also Sanskrit in the past. The Telugu script is derived from Old Kannada, and resembles Kannada script...
kagunita (Vi) and the Hebrew
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
(and also Yiddish) letter ו (Vav
Vav
VAV as a three-letter abbreviation may refer to* A Volcanic Ash Victim meaning someone who has been left stranded by a volcanic ash cloud that is hindering air travel.* A variable air volume device, used in HVAC systems to control the flow of air...
). As with the Latin letter
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
“W”, these glyphs are in most cases the first glyph of the name “Wikipedia” rendered in that language (for example, 維基大典 in Classical Chinese; similarly the Japanese katakana
Katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
ウィ makes the sound “wi”).
The empty space at the top represents the incomplete nature of the project, and languages yet to be added.
History
An initial design of the logo was created by Paul Stansifer, a 21 year old Wikipedia user, whose entry won a design competition run by the site in 2003. It was then improved by former student and software developer, David Friedland. He changed the styling of the jigsaw pieces so that their boundaries seemed indented and simplified their contents to be a single glyph, rather than a word. In the process, some errors were introduced, which can be traced to the incorrect handling by some web browserWeb browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s of ligatures in certain writing systems. In particular one piece of Devanagari script and one piece of Japanese katakana
Katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
were incorrectly displayed.
In 2007, a modified 3D model was developed by Wikimedia Taiwan for Wikimania
Wikimania
Wikimania is an annual international conference for users of the wiki projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation...
, when they distributed a 3-inch diameter spherical puzzle based on the logo, that attendees could piece together. It did not add other letters on the parts that can't be seen on the 2D logo, but used that space to include small logos of the sister projects and information about Wikimania. A variant of that model was used to build a person-sized Wikiball that spun on a stand, featured during the event. This led to a renewed interest in getting a proper 3D model for the logo.
By 2007 users on listserv
LISTSERV
LISTSERV was the first electronic mailing list software application, consisting of a set of email addresses for a group in which the sender can send one email and it will reach a variety of people...
s discovered that the logo had some minor errors. The errors were not immediately fixed, because according to Friedland, he could not locate the original project file. Friedland added that “I have tried to reconstruct it, but it never looks right” and that the logo “should be redrawn by a professional illustrator.” , a Wikipedian, said that most Japanese users supported correcting the errors. In an e-mail to Noam Cohen of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Kizu said that “It could be an option to leave them as they are. Most people don’t take it serious and think the graphical logo is a sort of pot-au-feu
Pot-au-feu
The pot-au-feu is a French beef stew. According to chef Raymond Blanc, the pot-au feu is "the quintessence of French family cuisine, it is the most celebrated dish in France...
of various letters without meaning.”
Current logo
In late 2009, the Wikimedia Foundation undertook to fix the errors and generally update the puzzle globe logo. Among other concerns, the original logo did not scale well and some letters appeared distorted. For the new logo, the Wikimedia Foundation defined which characters appear on the “hidden” puzzle pieces, and had a three-dimensional computer model of the globe created to allow the generation of other views. A partial 3D globe was commissioned for the Wikimedia office.The new logo was rolled out on the projects in May 2010. It features the new 3D rendering of the puzzle globe, with corrected characters (and the Klingon
Klingon language
The Klingon language is the constructed language spoken by the fictional Klingons in the Star Trek universe....
character replaced by a Geʿez character). The wordmark
Wordmark
A wordmark, word mark or logotype is a standardized text logo or graphic representation of the name of a company, institution, or product name used for purposes of identification and branding. A wordmark is usually a distinct text-only typographic treatment as can be found in the graphic identities...
has been modified from the Hoefler Text
Hoefler Text
Hoefler Text is a contemporary serif Antiqua font that was designed for Apple Computer to demonstrate advanced type technologies. Hoefler Text was created to allow the composition of complex typography; as such it takes cues from a range of classic fonts, such as Garamond and Janson.Designed by...
font to the open-source Linux Libertine
Linux Libertine
Linux Libertine is a digital typeface created by the Libertine Open Fonts Project, which aims to create free and open alternatives to Proprietary software typefaces such Times Roman...
font, and the subtitle is no longer italicized. The “W”character, which was used in various other places in Wikipedia (such as the favicon
Favicon
A favicon , also known as a shortcut icon, Web site icon, URL icon, or bookmark icon, is a file containing one small icons, most commonly 16×16 pixels, associated with a particular Web site or Web page...
) and was a “distinctive part of the Wikipedia brand”, had “crossed” V glyphs in the original logo, while Linux Libertine has a joined W letter shape. As a solution, the “crossed” W was added as an OpenType variant to the Linux Libertine font.
Trade mark
The (former) logo was registered as a European Community Trade MarkCommunity Trade Mark
A Community M application in any member state can defeat the entire application, a CTM registration is enforceable in all member states.The CTM system is administered by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market , which is located in Alicante, Spain .- Character and advantages :The...
by Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. The trade mark bears a filing date of 31 January 2008 and a registration date of 20 January 2009.
External links
- Wikimedia Blog: Wikipedia in 3D 3D version of the Wikipedia logo unveiled; description of the new puzzle globe logo
- Wikimedia Blog: A new look for Wikipedia