DokuWiki Logo Contest

I'm looking for a new logo for DokuWiki. Every talented graphics designer is welcome to submit his work. Here are some requirements to meet:

• The image should be licensed under the GPL so I can include it in DokuWiki
• It should be submitted either in a scalable Format (SVG preferred) or in multiple resolutions (16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 64×64, 128×128)

Please upload any submissions to the according task in the bugtracking system.

The winning submission will be the new default favicon for DokuWiki and will be included in the download package - and of course your name will become immortal .

An interesting discussion about finding a Wiki logo can be found at http://moinmoin.wikiwikiweb.de/MoinDev/MoinMoinLogo

What do you think about the idea of a lighthouse? — marcel 2005-03-11 12:08

Well I'm open for everything Why a lighthouse? — Andreas Gohr 2005-03-11 12:27

I did some brainstorming for this yesterday evening, and I found following terms for dokuwiki: Ideas, Knowledge, Simple, Search
So, “Idea” would normally be a light bulb, “Search” a magnifing-glass. All together it would be a lighthouse
In this context we also have a slogan: “Dokuwiki - brings light into the dark” — marcel 2005-03-11 13:13

I guess people would associate a lighthouse more with a searchengine than a wiki? Maybe some abstract logo (like the one from darcs: ) would be better fitting? But as I said I'm open to everything Just submit your graphics. — Andreas Gohr 2005-03-11 19:45

Like a beacon in a dark night. I like the idea, for me it's a very good metaphor for the concept of “collaborative documentation” with knowledge sharing. In a place where ideas and knowledge don't shine too bright, a small lighthouse starts to enlight the people passing close by. The ideas once stored and kept in a dark (hidden) place are now visible and clear. For me, a lighthouse isn't directly associated with a search engine, because I see search engines more active and “out there and everywhere” than a WikiEngine. Not, of course, really comparing one with another, since it makes no sense at all, but in terms of metaphor a lighthouse is associated with help, assistance, enlightment. I like this idea alot. better than a light-bulb, which I see more as something “individual” rather than something for a “community”. To me, Marcel has hit the spot, dead on. — straider 2005-03-14 16:08

Okay Now the only thing we need are some talented graphic artists — Andreas Gohr 2005-03-14 18:20

I just gave it a try and uploaded it to flyspray http://bugs.splitbrain.org/index.php?getfile=15…. feedback welcome! (oh, and i'm a software developer, not an artist, so please stay kind )— marcel 2005-03-14 19:06

I really like “cartoonish” icons, such as the Druplicon for Drupal. That's a nice lighthouse, but only that. A lighthouse. Nothing more and nothing less. Could a “stylicized” d be used as the lighthouse structure and a W be used as the light cabin? Just a thought, well done (much better than anything I could/would do) ;). — straider 2005-03-14 20:08

What about this one? I tried your approach. The w is in fact the Big Bulb Resistor, and I want you to notice the Open door ;). Yours: Néstor Díaz

Hmm currently I like the right one most Maybe the the lighthouse should be swapped so the arch is looking to the right? It currently looks more like a C than a D — Andreas Gohr 2005-03-29 22:16

I guess I should remark (in the drawing) I am looking for a d, otherwhise it will move all letters to the right and I already tried it and I don't like that, it doesn't look that compact. Néstor Díaz

As a simple logo, I like the one on the left more, because it's a lighthouse (non-distorted) and has the open-door very visible. I don't like much the small DokuWiki “stylicized” text at the bottom. If the one on the right could have the door facing front and the “structure” (white and red) be tilted as a “D”, then it would be my favorite. I don't understand (duh) what the “black arch” is supposed to be.
As an aside note, I never realized that images could be “inlined” when being part of a quote-style or list-style. Is this a feature or a bug? Anyway, Andi really had a good idea when promoted the logo competition. It's been fun to follow. — straider 2005-03-30 13:45

First of all I would like to apologize for not using the bugtracking system. I found there is no way of contributing without registering. (Sorry, but I do not like to register …)

I did some brainstorming as well – with the following results:

My first idea was that the combination of characters best representing DokuWiki and its most important features are: [[Doku:Wiki]]
You have got the name, internal links (represented by the brackets) and namespaces (represented by the colon). But that could be too long for a logo, so another, shorter step would be: [[D:W]]

I tried to play around with those elements and soon these two mascots were blinking happily at me:

Another idea I had, was to try the characters [[D:W]] with different fonts. Although that did not work (none looked too convincing), I stumbled across the font “Symbol” which contains Greek characters. And that font made ”Δ:Ω” out of “D:W”. Although a “W” is not the same as “Omega” (which is a kind of “O”), I found the combination of the letters Delta and Omega interesting enough to try out another (very simple) logo:

All in all I am no designer. And these three “Pre-Logos” are just meant to be ideas to work upon – if anyone wishes to.

I like this idea. BTW. I think the lower Omega looks much more like a “W” if I remember correctly. Another nice thing is that Delta is used to denote changes in Physics - very fitting for a Wiki. — Andreas Gohr 2005-03-19 14:25

Delta Omega = “resistor difference”?

Lower-case omega is commonly used in digital signal processing to denote frequency in the discrete-time domain, and upper-case for the continuous-time domain. So the concept of “frequent change” might work, but is rather obscure for the general public. Just my two cents worth. – Chris Lee 2005-03-20

Hi, I have a suggestion for the logo, why not a pencil? DokuWiki is intented to be used for code, so… a think a pencil is a good way to represent this. This is my idea:

Javier Nievas

I suggest to keep the book in the logo, since DokuWiki is about writing documentation. Most people still think of a book when you say documentation. What is special about my proposal, is that there are two pencils concurrently writing into the same book. I want to stress the collaborative writing features with this.

— Esther Brunner 2005-03-30 01:57

Although I really like these logos I want to point out an idea that goes a bit against a book: when I evaluated several WikiEngines for an InternalTeam ProjectDocumentation role I choose PmWiki first. This WikiEngine has WikiTrails, which looks alot like this:

« Previous Page | Current Page | Next Page »

but then due to other so many useful and pratical features of DokuWiki I turned away from PmWiki. I also found out about Drupal Book Module, but it lacks the simple and fast way of editing content, which any WikiEngine excels at. Still, for me DokuWiki isn't so much about writing a book in a collaborative manner (Drupal does that very well and even PmWiki is better suited for that) but more about sharing knowledge while writing collaborative documentation (emphasis on technical documentation, thanks to SyntaxHighlight). For this reason and this reason only, I (personally) prefer a lighthouse. And as a final remark, I really really like these your logos. — straider 2005-03-30 13:37

Two pens writing one book is a brilliant idea in my opinion! It comes very close to the idea of writing documentation as a collaborative effort. But straider is right about the book. Maybe it coulld be exchanged against a document or a scroll? BTW: Nucleus CMS already uses a lighthouse — Andreas Gohr 2005-03-30 21:29

Okay, here is a second try with a document instead of a book and simpler shapes to make the icon / logo look good even in small sizes:

I really like this logo, best one so far IMHO. — 2005-04-02 16:04

I also like this one most. Simple and intuitive. Can the smallest one be used as a favicon? — akr, 2005-04-02 18:05

Ditto. Although the icon is focused on collaborative document writing concept, it's very good and so far the best. The lighthouse still expresses (to me) the knowledge sharing concept, but as Andi points out NucleusCMS already uses one so makes no sense in using it for DokuWiki as well. And to top it all, it does look nice as a favicon too! Great work. One comment still: would it be possible to also “represent” the concept of easy linking besides easy multi-editing? I thought about 3 pages instead of one, but then the icon is more complex and doesn't represent linking so well in any case. — straider 2005-04-04 14:01

Thank you straider for your suggestions! I think the use of multiple pages is a good way to show that it's very easy to create pages. I also took up an idea from the first version with sketched arrows to symbolize that interlinking pages is as easy as drawing a few arrows on a piece of paper. This increases the complexity of the logo a little bit, but I think it's still good for small sizes, though you don't recognize the arrows in the 16×16 / 12×12 versions. And the above version (second try) to me looks a little bit to much like a generic application icon. — Esther 2005-04-04 17:43

Esther, to me this is almost perfect. Nothing to comment except that I hope that Andi et al pick this logo. I've been thinking about the logo “representing” the concept of knowledge-share, to the point where I now don't see much purpose in “pursuing” it: DokuWiki and WikiEngines are really all about easy editing and easy linking while targetting an interested “community” of users. I think that other web applications go further in sharing knowledge between any visitor. Another good thing about the logo, although as you say the arrows kinda vanishes in smaller resolutions, is that is still very good. If no one else (like me) contributes with any other logo, this is IMHO the winner. ;) — straider 2005-04-04 19:37

I agree this is the best logo so far and I am completly happy with it Unless a much better suggestion is made (I can't imagine a better one) this will go into the next release. Thank you very much Esther! BTW. can you send me the SVG (if you have one) of it? — Andreas Gohr 2005-04-04 21:00

Just created a new button image: — Andreas Gohr 2005-04-05 21:52

Hey great! It's a great pleasure and honour for me to contribute the logo for such a fantastic software as DokuWiki! Thank you very much! — Esther 2005-04-06 20:06

Esther, I also like the logo images very much but I think the font family you used is a bit 'inexpressive'. I would like to suggest a different one… Great work, anyway! — moraes [at] tipos [dot] com [dot] br

I used Myriad, but Andi can choose whatever font he thinks is appropriate. I like Myriad because its letter forms don't stand out of what our eye is used to. Apple uses the same font for its advertisements and they look good not least because you think, it's just a normal sans serif font. — Esther 2005-04-08 19:07

see the font below, for example. a bit more 'expressive'. moraes [at] tipos [dot] com [dot] br

As a professional graphic designer, I say the above graphic is excellent. adraeus