Wikidata needs a logo and you can help!

We are looking for a beautiful logo for Wikidata. Are you an artist and have some serious design skills? Do you want your logo to represent the newest Wikimedia project and be seen by millions? Here is your chance.

What are we looking for exactly?

Here are some requirements for the logo that are important:

• It should of course represent Wikidata and the idea behind it. If you’re not very familiar with Wikidata it is a good idea to read the FAQ to get a quick overview.
• If you use a font please use a freely-licensed one that has wide unicode coverage so it can later be localized.
• It should work well in different sizes (on a t-shirt and as a favicon for example – less detailed versions for smaller sizes are possible).
• It should work well in color and black/white.
• Please provide the source of your submission (SVG or similar).

How to submit a logo proposal?

To submit a logo for Wikidata, please upload it to Wikimedia Commons and add it to the category Wikidata logo proposals. All proposals in this category will be considered. Please add a note saying that you read the submission guidelines.

How are we going to decide on a logo?

By the deadline, the team doing the initial development of Wikidata will sit down and make a shortlist from all submissions with their favourites. We will then start a vote with the whole community for the best logo on this shortlist. Everyone has one vote. It will happen on Meta.

Timeline

• Submissions possible until: 30 June 2012
• Selection of the candidates to vote on: 1 and 2 July 2012
• Vote on possible candidates: 3 to 12 July 2012
• Announcement of winner: 13 July 2012

I still have questions!

Contact me and ask away.

What you need to keep in mind

Because this is a contest to pick the next Wikimedia project’s logo, there are a few things the lawyers want you to know to make sure this is all going to work out fine and there are no surprises for anyone: “You must allow the Wikimedia Foundation to use your submission. Therefore, you acknowledge and agree that by submitting your proposed logo design that you grant to Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. an exclusive (even as against you), perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, fully paid-up license to use, reproduce, and exploit in any way without limitation all copyright, trademark, publicity, and any other intellectual property or other proprietary rights thereto. You also acknowledge that by submitting your proposed logo design that if your logo design is chosen as the winning adopted logo for the Wikidata project, you will be required to enter into a contract assigning and/or licensing all of your rights thereto to Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

This means that you must have the rights to the submission in order to license them. Therefore, by submitting your proposed logo design, you warrant that you are the owner of all copyright, trademark, moral, publicity, and other intellectual and proprietary rights to the proposed logo design and that it does not violate such rights of any third party.

And while we hope that there is no dispute between you and the Wikidata development team and/or the Wikimedia Foundation, we want to set some rules about how any disputes that may arise will be handled.  By submitting your proposed logo design, you are agreeing that your submission, your license of rights in it, and any dispute shall be governed by the laws of the United States of America and shall be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in the City and County of San Francisco, California.”