[Wikipedia-l] Wikimedia, MediaWiki logos uploaded

Fri Oct 17 12:28:48 UTC 2003

Erik wrote:
> >I have used the second place design by User:Neolux 
> >as the more important Wikimedia logo. I think it looks 
> >very nice on the Wikimedia Foundation page, please 
> >do take a look:
> >
> >http://wikimediafoundation.org/

Daniel Mayer wrote:
> Yes! That looks very nice.

I like it, too.

On this point, I'll do whatever I'm told to do, because I'm not in any
mood to argue about the logo with anyone.  :-) However, I do have a
question.

Is it really sensible to have different logos for the Wikimedia
Foundation and Wikipedia itself?  

I'll tell you the truth: while I *love* the new Wikipedia logo (puzzle
ball) and fully support it in every way, I *really* preferred the logo
that's now on the wikimedia foundation website (the #2 logo, the
abstract peace-person) all along.

So, I hope the answer is "Yes, of course, the Wikimedia Foundation is
an umbrella for many differently-branded products, and so just as
AOL-TimeWarner has a logo for AOL and a logo for Time Magazine, we can
and should have different logos, too.  The Microsoft logo is not the
same as the XP logo.  And so on."

But, I wonder.  We're not a huge media organization, yet.  And the
beneficial branding impact of a logo depends on people actually seeing
it a lot.  

If millions of people visit Wikipedia (and they do, and they will)
then if I send a letter on Wikimedia Foundation letterhead to the Ford
Foundation, say, then if that letterhead has the Wikipedia logo on it,
there's a good chance that someone there will instantly have happy
feelings towards us, because they'll instantly know who we are and
what we do.

But if the logo is different, and on a website that we don't really
expect a lot of people to visit (as compared to Wikipedia proper),
then it'll just be an abstract thing.  They'll think "Gee, why is the
UN earth peace council sending us a letter"?  (ha ha)

So, what am I supposed to do when I print letterhead?  Should we
really do this?  Or should we use the puzzle-ball logo for everything?

--Jimbo