Wikinews logo contest voting/Variants

The recent vote for the Wikinews logo chose this design:

(The version on the left is for sites which use western character sets. The version on the right is for the BG character set used on bg.wikinews.)

This new logo is posted on Wikinews, replacing our old "Beta" logo. However, few things are permanent on a Wiki. Not everyone agreed that this was the best logo. In that spirit, here is a page on which we can experiment with different ideas to design an even better logo.

To start things off, user Stevertigo posted a variation with smaller text:

Here are some other variations based on feedback submitted during the vote:

Rotated with simpler meridian and latitude lines and subtle highlight and shadow gradients.

On the left

+sj+ 08:32, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC) I like them both! Particularly the one on the right, in part b/c it is rotated ~180degrees, a view of the globe one almost never sees. My only other suggestion is that I would prefer a larger globe and smaller 'swooosh'es.
Please change the logo soon. The current logo is really embarrassingly similar to its cousin.

You'll get no argument from me on that point. — DV 10:52, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Try smaller text, per suggestion by Stevertigo.

Global lighting, to add depth and dimension.
Version on the right is rotated to be more distinct from the map element in the UN logo.
(A high-resolution image of the version on the left is posted here).

On the right

Inetd 17:24, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC) I make vote for left logo.

On the left

+sj+ 08:32, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC) (see above re: larger globe, smaller swooshes)

Perhaps too wild or crazy...does this one stray too far from the approved theme?
Comments:

Well, I really like it! I think I can even see NZ on there.—Christiaan 14:20, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
That's just too weird... +sj+ 08:33, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Constructive criticism

Many contributors offered valuable constructive criticism along with their vote for the Wikinews logo.

Here is a summary of some of the ideas that were offered:

Additional variations on the polar map theme

Rotate the map 45°.

Flip the map upside-down.

Use bolder colors.

Take away the drop shadow from the text.

Add a drop shadow to the map.

Add a radial highlight gradient to the map to give it a raised appearance.

Other variations on the generic "globe with waves" theme

Use a different map projection which shows all the continents without so much distortion.

Other ideas

A design which goes in a completely new direction...

Follow up

I will start posting some images on this page which illustrate some of the above ideas.

Others are welcome to do the same.

— DV 00:01, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Could you create a version which only has the subtle highlight and gradients, but isn't rotated?--Eloquence 09:22, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Sure, I just added it up above. It's posted as Image:WikinewsLogoPolarGlobe17T.png. — DV 09:50, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The currect versions have whit Internet Exploiter 6.0 a gray background Walter 09:55, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Are you only seeing this on the all-languages Wikinews gateway page? Or on the individual language versions as well? Also do you see this problem with the Wikipedia logo or any of the other sister projects?

Using IE6, I noticed the gray rectangle on the all-languages gateway page, but not on the individual Wikinews sites, so perhaps there is something different about the site settings that causes the transparency to fail on one site but not another?

I understand that IE had some bugs with alpha channel support in PNGs, but if the logo works on some sites in IE and not others, perhaps there is some other issue which is causing this bug?

Hopefully the IE developers will check the Firefox source code to learn how to fix transparency once and for all. — DV 10:19, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

UN logo

For a point of comparison with a very similar logo (which behind some of the push for a variant logo), see below.

Longer arcs

The rotated version looks better, in my opinion. However, have you tried making the inner waves/arcs a bit longer? On my rough version, that I probably shouldn't inflict on others as my software did all sorts of funny things with it, it looked better that way; less wristwatch like, more like the whole earth is sending out waves. To get some Wikimedia feel you'd probably need almost a circle, but I only went as far as the tangent of the globe that goes through the tip of the outer wave/arc. Aliter 00:05, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Small version

It would be nice if there was a variant, that would still be distinct enough if reduced in size to something like 20 px. It could be used for example to mark links to Wikinews from other Wikis. The current logo doesn't show much anymore at this size. Most of the other logos scale better with their text stripped. -- Schnargel 03:58, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

If you want to try out more logos

For anyone who would like to try their hand at improving the existing logo, please let me know if you'd like me to e-mail the original artwork to you so you can play around with new ideas.

Of course, you don't have to start from the existing design - you are welcome to start from scratch and attempt to restart the whole process, but that's one parade I think I will watch from a distance. :)

Regards,

— DV 10:52, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

SVG

Is there an SVG file of the logo? One criticism I would make is that the thickness of the () are incongruent with the shape of the globe, by ratio/proportion artistic eye, etc. Susequently the width/height proportion is likewise (slightly) undesirable. -SV 19:56, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Print edition

country/portal

see commons:Wikinews for more