Wikipedia Logo PNG
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia, which explains almost every subject. Information is available in a variety of languages.
Meaning and history
2001
The core visual metaphor has remained unchanged in spite of all the modifications the logo has gone through over its history.
The earliest Wikipedia logo was already based on the circle, which was of course inspired by the shape of our planet. Also, there already were letters written inside the circle. Back then, the letters were small and formed multiple words, which is very different from the current design.
2001 — 2003
The globe could be paired with the large word “Wikipedia” and the lettering “The Free Encyclopedia” in smaller letters below.
2003
This version was designed by Paul Stansifer and later modified by David Friedland. The logo was an incomplete globe constructed of jigsaw pieces with a few ones missing at the top. Previously, there was some multilingual text inscribed on each piece, which was later replaced with glyphs. That shape was in use until 2010.
2003 — 2010
The globe was slightly rotated reminding the position of the Earth. In this version, the words on the jigsaw pieces were already replaced by separate large glyphs.
2010 — Today
The current Wikipedia logo is the same unfinished jigsaw globe with thinner boundaries between pieces, which give it a sleeker appearance. There were erroneous glyphs in the previous version, and they had to be (and were) replaced with correct ones. A wordmark ‘Wikipedia’ is placed beneath the globe, and ‘The Free Encyclopedia’ slogan underlines the whole emblem.
Symbol
The Wikipedia logo symbol was meant to reflect the company’s never-flagging (and, based on the goal, never-ending) striving to embrace the world and cover all possible subjects. The missing jigsaw pieces stand for the impossibility of this mission of seizing the unseizable. The glyphs symbolize the website’s multilingualism.
Font
The Wikipedia logo uses a stylish serif font.
Color
The color palette used in the Wikipedia logo consists of light shades of gray.