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Project logos are trademarks that serve as the identifying mark for that project and its components. They serve to unify work on those projects, and help contributors identify with that project, across subprojects and language versions; online and offline, in banners and on sweet gear (stickers, ear tunnels, &c.) Logos of major Wikimedia projects are registered by the WMF to protect the projects and communities from clones or impostor sites that might deceive or harm users, or might otherwise cause confusion about the shared identity and goals of the Project.

Current logos

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See wmf:Wikimedia official marks for details about the logos.

  • Project: Wikiquote
  • Author: User:Neolux
  • Legal status: CC BY-SA 3.0
  • Remarks: variant A is on the English Wikipedia, Variant B is used on Wikiquote itself. Which is now the official logo? (The logo shown to the right is intended to be the official logo, A was just a quick draft - Neolux)

If you propose a new logo for a project please add the copyright tag {{CopyrightByWikimedia}} to the image description page. If you are the creator of one of the logos, please change the copyright on the image description page accordingly.

Logo guidelines

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Proposing new logos

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Don't change the logo on a project without a discussion with (at a minimum) the affected communities and the board. The logo identity of our websites is important for professionalism and consistency, to help end users be familiar with us, and we should be thoughtful about changes. Logos are global: All languages have to use the same logo, logo changes are possible on a project level only, but not for one language.

Since the Wikimedia logos are used in many different circumstances, a logo must scale well from great versions on flags to small favicons on the website. It must be substantially different from the other project logos but still harmonize with the others.

If you propose a new logo for a Wikimedia project it must not be licensed under GFDL. Copyright should be transferred to the Wikimedia Foundation instead. It may be useful to review the Mozilla trademark policies to gain an initial understanding of the problems of trademarks licensed under the GFDL. It is our intention to license the logos in a manner consistent with our values, and a free-using license on a logo is legally a very baffling thing.

Logo checklist

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  • Assign the copyright to the Wikimedia Foundation (Contact the General Counsel)
  • Submit all necessary formats
    • Wiki.png for the website
    • Vectorized version with text (SVG and EPS if possible, text should be embedded as graphic)
    • Vectorized version without text
    • Favicon
  • Submit a specification
    • Color specification in CMYK and RGB
    • Used fonts

Temporary logo variants

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There have been a few instances of logos temporarily changed for holidays on some wikis. This practice is discouraged. The problem is: it is tough to do it well, in a way that doesn't conflict with our neutrality policies. To illustrate what this means: is a Christmas logo neutral towards religion? If the en.wikipedians voted for a US Flag logo on the 4th of July, would this be neutral? Obviously not. But this sort of consideration will come into play for almost every holiday, and for now, unless and until we find a way to come to consensus about it, this sort of temporary change should be avoided.

On the other hand, projects sometimes change their logo to celebrate significant milestones (for example, five/ten year anniversary, 100,000 or 1 million etc. articles). This practice is welcome, and even encouraged, to help projects celebrate.

Interface administrators should not override the logo with a temporary logo by editing MediaWiki:Common.css of their wiki, as this would make web browsers download both logos and would increase traffic (see phab:T256295#6496718 for technical details).

Instead, follow the instructions to request a logo change.

Wikimedia movement affiliates logos

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Main article: Wikimedia movement affiliates logos best practices

Best practices for Wikimedia movement affiliate logo creation are provided by the Affiliations Committee based on the Wikimedia Foundation's visual identity guidelines (specifically in regards to the Wikimedia Foundation mark), the Wikimedia Foundation's trademark policy, input from Wikimedia Foundation's Legal and Community Advocacy and Communications teams, and input from the community.

Every movement affiliate is able to pick from three basic options:

  1. Custom logo – may or may not include any Wikimedia logo component as permitted by the Wikimedia Foundation's trademark policy.
  2. Wikimedia community logo variant – based on the Wikimedia community logo.
  3. Wikimedia Foundation logo variant – below best practices provide information on how different types of movement affiliates logos may be based on the Wikimedia Foundation logo.

Designing new logos

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Here are some best practices to keep in mind when designing a new logo for anything.

Must have

  • It must work well at different sizes
    • The logo should be clearly identifiable at very small sizes, e.g. the 16 x 16 pixel favicon used in web-browser tabs. A variation design can be used for the favicon, as with File:Wikidata Favicon color.svg
    • The logo should look good at very large sizes, e.g. when printed on posters, used as a Wikimania table banner, or projected on a large screen.
  • It must work well in color and in black & white
    • The logo should work well in a simple variation, e.g. in printed form.
    • Logos are legally registered in black and white, and must function as memorable single-color expressions.
  • It must use a reduced color palette
    • Avoid gradients that contain thousands of colors. Never use photos. This will enable good rendering in print or on low-resolution displays.
  • It must have suitable contrast for text color, and for light and dark background colors
    • Follow the WCAG guidelines for text contrast.
    • Consider how the logo will look on both white and black backgrounds, e.g. in dark-mode.
  • It must use a freely licensed typeface.
  • Provide the logo and the wordmark in separate files, as well as a combined file.
    • This will enable using the two elements in multiple ways, e.g. reversing the color of the wordmark on dark backgrounds.

Keep in mind

  • Specified color palette
  • Focus on a single color or a few specific colors that could be further used in other applications too, e.g. UI elements.
  • Color-blind friendly
  • Identification factor with the project
  • The logo could have some sort of literal or abstract connection to the project.
  • The logo should work well alongside any related logos.

Context-dependent

  • Wordmark capitalization
    • Software projects, e.g. Extensions, use CamelCase.
    • All other projects use Titlecase.

Big version suitable for use in printed publications

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These great versions are suitable for use in printed publications. Please refer to commons:Category:High-resolution or SVG official Wikimedia logos and commons:Category:High-resolution localized Wikimedia logos.

This section was outdated and has been blanked; see the history for previous situation.

Localisation

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How can I get a version of the Logo for my Wikipedia?
See wmf:Wikimedia official marks/Word mark creation and Requesting wiki configuration changes.

See also Wikipedia in other languages, User:Cbrown1023/Logos and a somewhat more detailed description regarding setting up a new logo for Wikibooks.

See also

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You can read the Logo history in prose or follow the links:

  1. The OldWikiPediaLogo
  2. The International logo contest
  3. The International logo contest/Final logo variants
  4. International logo contest/Final logo variants/Nohat


Logo discussions & votes
  • Logo (current logos, guidelines, localisation)
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