When Wikipedia was first launched on January 15, 2001, founder Jimbo Wales originally used the flag of the United States as a provisional logo. Of course, it wasn’t intended to be the permanent logo of Wikipedia, so several days afterward, Wales changed the logo.[1][2]
In November 2001, Wikipedia users began suggesting new logos for the site; a short list of twenty-four leading candidates was chosen for the first Wikipedia logo contest, which took place from November to December 2001. The winner of the contest was the last submission, made by the user The Cunctator.
September–October 2003
SVG NEEDED
Designer:
Paullusmagnus
Typography:
Unknown
Launched:
September 26, 2003
In 2003, another logo contest for the site was held, and took place from 20 July to 27 August 2003. The winning submission was created by the user Paullusmagnus and it was adopted by Wikipedia on 26 September 2003. However, international pages continued to use the previous logo.
2003–present
2003–2010
Designer:
Nohat
Typography:
Hoefler Text
Launched:
October 12, 2003
This logo was created by the user Nohat as a redesign of the winning submission of the 2003 contest, and was officially adopted by Wikipedia on 12 October 2003. Nohat made some minor changes to it (pictured above), and that version was officially adopted a few days later.
2010–present
Designer:
Philip Metschan
Typography:
Linux Libertine
Launched:
May 13, 2010
A new logo was introduced on May 13, 2010 that was designed by Philip Metschan, and was later amended to more closely resemble its predecessor. The word "WIKIPEDIA" was modified and the words "The Free Encyclopedia" were unitalicized (like the 2001 logo); the logo's typeface was also changed from Hoefler Text to Linux Libertine.
Glyphs contained in the new logotype
Trivia
There are many symbols representing the many different languages of the site.
The ball has puzzle pieces because it is being built and put together, and pieces are missing to reinforce that Wikipedia will never be truly complete.