Wikipedia Community Is Overhauling Its Visual Identity After 19 Years
The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, has enlisted design and architecture studio Snøhetta to give its organization a visual identity overhaul.
The aim of the new branding system is to support Wikimedia’s mission of “setting knowledge free.”
Since its launch in 2001, Wikipedia has become one of the “world’s most popular websites” featuring 50 million articles and updated by more than 250,000 volunteers. The Wikimedia Foundation also runs Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wikimedia Commons, to name a few.
Because the Wikimedia name and branding aren’t understood by many people, the organization plans to shift the focus to the more popular “Wikipedia” name for simplicity.
Wikimedia chose Snøhetta to work on its identity as the agency has “experience in building everything from libraries to national park identities.”
Wikimedia Foundation’s chief creative officer Heather Walls told Dezeen that Snøhetta has demonstrated its ability to “develop strong, visual brand identities that transcend geographical boarders and bring people together.”
Snøhetta will be working with some volunteers and will be gathering feedback for the updated identity, which will be released in the later half of 2020. You can watch the process unfold here.
[via Dezeen, opening image via Snøhetta]
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